A Framework for Investigating a Class of Distributed Processing Algorithms

As a result of the development of microcomputers, the term distributed computing has taken on new meaning. In this paper, we intend it to mean a general purpose computing system whose basic elements are microprocessors, and we are primarily concerned with the development of algorithms and the subsequent specification of software for the systems. We establish first a model for such a parallel asynchronous computing system giving particular attention to communications between microprocessors. Next, we propose a language for programs to execute on this system. Its syntax closely follows Simula, but its semantics are geared to the underlying hardware. The semantics we propose are such that we can use the programs both to investigate performance by simulation and to expound general techniques for algorithm construction for distributed systems.