Census functions: An approach to VLSI upper bounds

A model of VLSI computation suitable for the description of algorithms at a high level is introduced. The model is basically a language to express parallel computations which can be efficiently implemented by a VLSI circuit. This language is used to describe area-time efficient algorithms for a few well known graph problems. The exact complexity of these algorithms and their relevance to recent work on the inherent limitations of VLSI computations are also presented.