The introduction of high-speed serial communication links and general purpose VLSI routers offers new opportunities in system design. C104 routers can be used to construct high throughput, low latency interconnection networks for use in telecommunications, parallel computers and electronic systems in general. The T9000 transputer with its integrated communication links can be connected directly to these networks, providing high performance data-handling, protocol conversion and network control. This text concentrates on aspects related to scaleable, general purpose, high-performance computing, low-latency message-passing and parallel processing.
During the past fifteen years concurrency in programming languages such as Java rose and fell, and again became popular. At this moment developers advise us to avoid concurrency in programming. They are using a host of deprecated methods in the latest releases How are we to understand the love-hate relationship with what should be a widely used approach of tackling real-world problems? The aim of rchitectures, Languages and Techniques is to encourage the safe, efficient and effective use of parallel computing. It is generally agreed that concurrency is found in most real applications and that it should be natural to use concurrency in programming. However, there has grown up a myth that concurrency is "hard" and only for the hardened expert. The papers collected in this book cover the whole spectrum of concurrency, from theoretical underpinnings to applications. The message passing style of concurrency, developed in the Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) approach, is considered, and extensions are proposed. CSP's realization in the programming language occam is used directly for applications as diverse as modeling of concurrent systems and the description of concurrent hardware. This latter application may be compared to the use of Java for the same purpose. Concurrency and the use of Java is the subject of further papers, as is the provision of CSP-like facilities in Java and C and techniques to use these languages to construct reliable concurrent systems. At a time when concurrency gives headaches, this book brings a welcome breath of fresh air. Concurrency can really be a positive way forward.
Abstract Machine Models have played a profound though frequently unacknowledged role in the development of modern computing systems. They provide a precise definition of vital concepts, allow system complexity to be managed by providing appropriate views of the activity under consideration, enable reasoning about the correctness and quantitative performance of proposed problem solutions, and encourage communication through a common medium of expression. Abstract Models in Parallel and Distributed computing have a particularly important role in the development of contemporary systems, encapsulating and controlling an inherently high degree of complexity. The Parallel and Distributed computing communities have traditionally considered themselves to be separate. However, there is a significant contemporary interest in both of these communities in a common hardware model; a set of workstation-class machines connected by a high-performance network. The traditional Parallel/Distributed distinction therefore appears under threat.
ZEUS (Centres of European Supercomputing) is a network for information exchange and co-operation between European Supercomputer Centres. During the fall of 1994 the idea was put forward to start an annual workshop to stimulate the exchange of ideas and experience in parallel programming and computing between researchers and users from industry and academia. The first workshop in this series, the ZEUS '95 Workshop on Parallel Programming and Computation, is organized at Linkoping University, where the Swedish ZEUS centre, NSC (National Supercomputer Centre) is located. This is open for all researchers and users in the field of parallel computing.
The broadening of interest in parallel computing and transputers is reflected this book. Topics discussed include: concurrent programming; graphics and image processing; parallel applications; robotics; and control and software tools. The book also features a collection of abstracts of poster presentations.
Examines applications of transputers and OCCAM, including numerical, image processing, neural networks, natural language processing, networks and biological systems, as well as tools, routeing and mapping. The T9000 new generation transputer introduction is further discussed.
This volume includes very high quality papers in different areas of computer and information sciences. The main themes are (computer network) performance evaluation and artificial neural networks and their applications. The latest developments in these areas are presented by a number of distinguished researchers from all over the world. These proceedings of The 13th International Symposium on Computer and Information Sciences (ISCIS'98) contain outstanding papers specifically related to the areas of "Gelenbe" neural networks and their applications, performance of computer-communication networks, simulations and analytic methods in order to study the performance of telecommunication networks, scheduling and resource allocation in computer and multimedia systems, stochastic ordering applied to performance evaluation, and simulation of virtual humans.
