Reliable broadcast protocols. Special report
The distinguishing feature of a distributed program is not just that its various parts are distributed over a number of processors but that these parts communicate with one another. The hardware in a distributed system allows a processor to send messages to other processors; the operating system usually extends this facility to allow a process on one machine to send messages to a process on another. The operating system may also provide facilities to set up virtual circuits between processes and may include protocols that ensure a certain degree of reliability in the communication. From the point of view of a programming language, however, these facilities are still rather low-level, and this has led to a search for appropriate high-level abstractions for inter-process communication. Some researchers suggest that distribution be completely hidden from the programmer. They argue for an abstraction that looks like a global shared memory. This abstraction has the advantage that it is simple to program with; writing a distributed program is no different from writing a non-distributed one.
- Research Organization:
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (USA). Dept. of Computer Science
- OSTI ID:
- 6715817
- Report Number(s):
- AD-A-196132/5/XAB; TR-88-918
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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