In order to achieve a general acceptance of concurrency theory in practice, we need a systematic and coherent way of presenting concurrency theory to its potential users. This can be achieved by a simple uniform framework that permits an application-oriented taxonomy of the major models of concurrency and a structured organization of the core results.
A uniform framework for concurrency should allow composition and abstraction as fundamental operations. Composition enables the design and analysis of a large system by considering its parts in isolation. Abstraction enables the design and analysis of a large system by considering various levels of detail. Both operations may combine or alter essential characteristics of a system. For example, a system may appear synchronous at one level of detail and asynchronous at another level.
A uniform framework should also be semantic rather than syntactic, to eliminate distractions due to notation. The state transition system is a widely accepted and successful semantic structure that underlies much of concurrency theory. Unfortunately, basic state transition systems allow neither composition nor abstraction. Many extensions of state transition systems have been proposed for particular notions of composition, such as transition synchronization or transition interleaving, and for particular notions of abstraction, such as simulation or transition refinement. These should be instances of a generic uniform framework.
A uniform framework for concurrency will aid not only potential customers, but also students and researchers.