GPS: a parallel programming tool based on process groups

This paper presents a programming tool for development of parallel applications on a networked environment, called GPS. The programming model adopted is based on message passing and process groups. The process group approach is very attractive for model parallel applications since it is a very natural concept, closer to the application structure. The programming interface provided by GPS differs from other message-passing interfaces by its simplicity, generality and ease of use. The implementation of the tool, also covered in the paper, follows a new idea about distributed systems design: it is based on a microkernel environment