The
Algebra of Communicating Processes (ACP) is an
algebraic approach to reasoning about
concurrent systems. It is a member of the family of mathematical theories of concurrency known as process algebras or
process calculi. ACP was initially developed by
Jan Bergstra and
Jan Willem Klop in 1982, as part of an effort to investigate the solutions of unguarded recursive equations. More so than the other seminal process calculi (
CCS and
CSP), the development of ACP focused on the
algebra of processes, and sought to create an abstract, generalized axiomatic system for processes, and in fact the term
process algebra was coined during the research that led to ACP.