research-article

A Generalized Message-Passing Mechanism for Communicating Sequential Processes

Author:

Patrick M. LendersAuthors Info & Claims

IEEE Transactions on Computers, Volume 37, Issue 6

Pages 646 - 651

https://doi.org/10.1109/12.2203

Published: 01 June 1988 Publication History

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Abstract

Bidirectional message-passing (bi-io), a novel symmetric communication mechanism for concurrent processes, is introduced and developed. The mechanism is symmetric in the sense that, in one atomic action, a message is transmitted in each direction between two processes. For some applications (tree structure, systolic arrays) this method is shown to have several advantages over conventional synchronization and communication primitives (mainly conciseness of programs, absence of certain types of deadlock). The mechanism is rigorously defined with a CSP-like syntax and a weakest-precondition semantics. Two systolic arrays are developed using bidirectional message-passing: a matrix-vector multiplier and a palindrome recognizer.

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Cited By

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Song ZJi ZMa JSputh BAcharya UFaust O(2012)A systematic approach to embedded biomedical decision makingComputer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine10.1016/j.cmpb.2011.11.002108:2(656-664)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.cmpb.2011.11.002
Lenders P(1989)Distributed Computing with Single Read-Single Write VariablesIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/32.2470615:5(569-574)Online publication date: 1-May-1989
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/32.24706
Lenders P(1988)Correction to "A Generalized Message-Passing Mechanism for Communicating Sequential Processes"IEEE Transactions on Computers10.5555/52029.62656337:11(1484)Online publication date: 1-Nov-1988
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/52029.626563
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Index Terms

A Generalized Message-Passing Mechanism for Communicating Sequential Processes
1. Computing methodologies
  1. Concurrent computing methodologies
    1. Concurrent programming languages
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. General programming languages
      1. Language types
        Concurrent programming languages
  2. Software organization and properties
    1. Contextual software domains
      1. Operating systems
        Communications management
        Message passing

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Reviews

Reviewer: Craig Partridge

The message-passing mechanism described by this paper is called “bi-io,” which is short for “bidirectional message passing.” The novelty of bi-io is its paradigm of a simultaneous exchange of messages between two processes, instead of the standard request-response interaction used by most message-passing systems. The paper presents bi-io by extending the notation developed for communicating sequential processes and then analyzing bi-io in terms of this notation. It also presents ways that the problems of palindrome recognition and matrix vector multiplication could be represented in the bi-io notation. No implementations are discussed. In general, the paper presents the idea of bi-io clearly (although Lenders has published a correction to a typesetting error [1]) and the simple examples clearly illustrate how programmers might use it. Unfortunately, the paper does not make a very good argument for why bi-io is superior to existing communications paradigms such as classic RPC [2], nor does it discuss how bi-io might be implemented efficiently on a communication network.

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cover image IEEE Transactions on Computers

IEEE Transactions on Computers Volume 37, Issue 6

June 1988

136 pages

ISSN:0018-9340

Editor:
Bruce D. Shriver

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IEEE Computer Society

United States

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Published: 01 June 1988

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Song ZJi ZMa JSputh BAcharya UFaust O(2012)A systematic approach to embedded biomedical decision makingComputer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine10.1016/j.cmpb.2011.11.002108:2(656-664)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.cmpb.2011.11.002
Lenders P(1989)Distributed Computing with Single Read-Single Write VariablesIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/32.2470615:5(569-574)Online publication date: 1-May-1989
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/32.24706
Lenders P(1988)Correction to "A Generalized Message-Passing Mechanism for Communicating Sequential Processes"IEEE Transactions on Computers10.5555/52029.62656337:11(1484)Online publication date: 1-Nov-1988
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/52029.626563
(1988)Distributed microprogrammingACM SIGMICRO Newsletter10.1145/62197.6219919:1-2(11-12)Online publication date: 1-Jun-1988
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/62197.62199
Lenders PJohnson G(1987)Distributed microprogrammingProceedings of the 20th annual workshop on Microprogramming10.1145/255305.255307(12-14)Online publication date: 1-Dec-1987
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/255305.255307

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