Document Type

Article

Department

Computer Science (HMC)

Publication Date

7-1984

Abstract

Multiprocessing systems have the potential for increasing system speed over what is now offered by device technology. They must provide the means of generating work for the processors, getting the work to processors, and coherently collecting the results from the processors. For most applications, they should also ensure the repeatability of behavior, i.e., determinacy, speed-independence, or elimination of "critical races." Determinacy can be destroyed, for example, by permitting-in separate, concurrent processes statements such as "x: = x + 1" and "if x = 0 then… else…", which share a common variable. Here, there may be a critical race, in that more than one global outcome is possible, depending on execution order. But by basing a multiprocessing system on functional languages, we can avoid such dangers.

Our concern is the construction of multiprocessors that can be programmed in a logically transparent fashion. In other words, the programmer should not be aware of programming a multiprocessor versus a uniprocessor, except for optimizing performance for a specific configuration. This means that the programmer should not have to set up processes explicitly to achieve concurrent processing, nor be concerned with synchronizing such processes.

Multiprocessor systems present unique concurrency problems. Rediflow combines disciplined von Neumann processes with a hybrid reduction and dataflow model in an effective packet-switching network.

Comments

Previously linked to as: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/u?/irw,239.

Contents: Language and Currency; Concurrent Evaluation Models; Rediflow System Organization; Performance Evaluation; Future Work; Related Work.

Publisher pdf, posted with permission.

This article can also be found at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?isnumber=34744&arnumber=1659188&count=31&index=11

Rights Information

© 1984 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.

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