Keynote

Summary form only given. All widely used software and networking abstractions lack temporal semantics. The notion of correct execution of a program written in every widely-used programming language, in nearly every processor instruction-set, and the most widely used networking protocols today does not depend on timing. Timing properties emerge from an implementation, rather than being part of the design. But temporal behavior matters in almost all systems, but most particularly in networked embedded systems, where temporal behavior affects not just the value delivered by a system but also its correctness. This talk will argue that time can and must become part of the semantics of programs and networks. To illustrate that this is both practical and useful, we will describe recent efforts at Berkeley in the design and analysis of timing-centric distributed software systems. In particular, we will focus on the PTIDES project, which provides a timing-centric programming model for distributed real-time systems that leverages recent advances in network time synchronization.