On Linguistic Support for Distributed Programs

Technological advances have made it possible to construct systems from collections of computers connected by a network. At present, however, there is little support for the construction and execution of software to run on such a system. Our research concerns the development of an integrated language/system whose goal is to provide the needed support. This paper discusses a number of issues that must be addressed in such a language. The major focus of our work and this paper is support for the construction of robust software that survives node, network, and media failures.