Heterogeneous composition of models of computation

A model of computation (MoC) is a formal abstraction of execution in a computer. There is a need for composing diverse MoCs in e-science. Kepler, which is based on Ptolemy II, is a scientific workflow environment that allows for MoC composition. This paper explains how MoCs are combined in Kepler and Ptolemy II and analyzes which combinations of MoCs are currently possible and useful. It demonstrates the approach by combining MoCs involving dataflow and finite state machines. The resulting classification should be relevant to other workflow environments wishing to combine multiple MoCs (available at http://ptolemy.org/heterogeneousMoCs).