Abstract
We introduce a language for formally reasoning about programs that combine differential constructs with probabilistic ones. The language harbours, for example, such systems as adaptive cruise controllers, continuous-time random walks, and physical processes involving multiple collisions, like in Einstein's Brownian motion. We furnish the language with an operational semantics and use it to implement a corresponding interpreter. We also present a complementary, denotational semantics and establish an adequacy theorem between both cases.

Abstract
We describe RebeCaos, a user-friendly web-based front-end tool for the Rebeca language, based on the Caos library for Scala. RebeCaos can simulate different operational semantics of (timed) Rebeca, thus facilitating the dissemination and awareness of Rebeca, providing insights into the differences among existing semantics for Rebeca, and supporting quick experimentation of new Rebeca variants (e.g., when the order of received messages is preserved). The tool also comes with initial reachability analyses for Rebeca models (e.g., the possibility of reaching deadlocks or desirable states). We illustrate the RebeCaos tool by means of a ticket service use case from the timed Rebeca literature.

Abstract
Rebeca is 20+ years old. Introduced by Marjan Sirjani and colleagues for modelling and analysing actor-based systems, it comes with a variety of tool support, including dedicated model checkers, simulators, and code generators. When encountering Rebeca for the first time, either as a student, as a researcher, or as a practitioner from industry, one needs to grasp the subtleties of Rebeca ’s semantics, which includes variants with probabilities and time. This paper presents a user-friendly web-based front-end, based on the Caos library for Scala, to animate different operational semantics of (timed) Rebeca. This can facilitate the dissemination and awareness of Rebeca, provide insights into the differences among existing semantics, and support quick experimentation of new variants (e.g., when the order of received messages is preserved). The tool is illustrated by means of a ticket service use case from the literature.

Abstract

Abstract
We present Caos: a programming framework for computer-aided design of structural operational semantics for formal models. This framework includes a set of Scala libraries and a workflow to produce visual and interactive diagrams that animate and provide insights over the structure and the semantics of a given abstract model with operational rules. Caos follows an approach where theoretical foundations and a practical tool are built together, as an alternative to foundations-first design (tool justifies theory) or tool-first design (foundations justify practice). The advantage of Caos is that the tool-under-development can immediately be used to automatically run numerous and sizeable examples in order to identify subtle mistakes, unexpected outcomes, and unforeseen limitations in the foundations-under-development, as early as possible. More concretely, Caos supports the quick creation of interactive websites that help the end-users better understand a new language, structure, or analysis. End-users can be research colleagues trying to understand a companion paper or students learning about a new simple language or operational semantics. We include a list of open-source projects with a web frontend supported by Caos that are used both in research and teaching contexts.

Abstract