Linda alternative to message-passing systems

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1994 · Parallel Computing

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-8191(94)90032-9· OSTI ID:135319

Carriero, N J; Gelernter, D; Mattson, T J; Sherman, A H ^[1]

---

1. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)

The use of distributed data structures in a logically-shared memory is a natural readily-understood approach to parallel programming. The principle argument against such an approach for portable software has always been that efficient implementations could not scale to massively-parallel, distributed memory machines. Now, however, there is growing evidence that it is possible to develop efficient and portable implementations of virtual shared memory models on scalable architectures. In this paper we discuss one particular example: Linda. After presenting an introduction to the Linda model, we focus on the expressiveness of the model, on techniques required to build efficient implementations, and on observed performance both on workstation networks and distributed-memory parallel machines. Finally, we conclude by briefly discussing the range of applications developed with Linda and Linda`s suitability for the sorts of heterogeneous, dynamically-changing computational environments that are of growing significance. 28 refs.

• OSTI ID: 135319
• Journal Information: Parallel Computing, Journal Name: Parallel Computing Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 20; ISSN PACOEJ; ISSN 0167-8191
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
COMPUTER NETWORKS
DESIGN
MEMORY MANAGEMENT
PARALLEL PROCESSING
PROGRAMMING
TASK SCHEDULING