A Petri net, also known as a place and transition net, is a mathematical modeling language for describing distributed systems and a class of discrete event dynamic system. It is a directed bipartite graph with two kinds of elements, places drawn as circles and transitions drawn as rectangles, joined by arcs that never run between two places or two transitions. Places hold tokens, and a transition is enabled when every input place holds enough tokens; when it fires it consumes tokens from its inputs and produces tokens in its outputs in one atomic step. Unless an execution policy is defined, execution is nondeterministic, which makes the model well suited to concurrent behaviour. Unlike graphical notations such as UML activity diagrams, Petri nets have an exact mathematical definition of their execution semantics. They are named for Carl Adam Petri, who analyzed them in his 1962 doctoral dissertation.
Facts
Core PrincipleA directed bipartite graph of places and transitions in which tokens placed on places make transitions fire, used to model concurrent systems such as network protocols. 2 Connections
In Field
Source Petri net (Wikipedia)
Invented
Source Petri net (Wikipedia)
Long-Form Articles
Sources
1. Petri net (Wikipedia)
Historical background
analyzed Petri nets extensively in his 1962 Ph. D. dissertation
In Field: Theory of Computation, Lead
one of several mathematical modeling languages for the description of distributed systems
In Group: Models of Computation and Automata, Lead
It is a class of discrete event dynamic system.
View the Source2. Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (FOLDOC): Petri net (FOLDOC)
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (FOLDOC)Entry textQuote, Entry text
Petri nets are used to model concurrent systems, particularly network protocols.
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