research-article

Sequentially Constructive Concurrency—A Conservative Extension of the Synchronous Model of Computation

Authors:

Reinhard Von Hanxleden,

Michael Mendler,

Joaquín Aguado,

Björn Duderstadt,

Christian Motika,

Stephen Mercer,

Partha RoopAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems (TECS), Volume 13, Issue 4s

Article No.: 144, Pages 1 - 26

https://doi.org/10.1145/2627350

Published: 28 July 2014 Publication History

Abstract

Synchronous languages ensure determinate concurrency but at the price of restrictions on what programs are considered valid, or constructive. Meanwhile, sequential languages such as C and Java offer an intuitive, familiar programming paradigm but provide no guarantees with regard to determinate concurrency. The sequentially constructive (SC) model of computation (MoC) presented here harnesses the synchronous execution model to achieve determinate concurrency while taking advantage of familiar, convenient programming paradigms from sequential languages.

In essence, the SC MoC extends the classical synchronous MoC by allowing variables to be read and written in any order and multiple times, as long as the sequentiality expressed in the program provides sufficient scheduling information to rule out race conditions. This allows to use programming patterns familiar from sequential programming, such as testing and later setting the value of a variable, which are forbidden in the standard synchronous MoC. The SC MoC is a conservative extension in that programs considered constructive in the common synchronous MoC are also SC and retain the same semantics. In this article, we investigate classes of shared variable accesses, define SC-admissible scheduling as a restriction of “free scheduling,” derive the concept of sequential constructiveness, and present a priority-based scheduling algorithm for analyzing and compiling SC programs efficiently.

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Sequentially Constructive Concurrency—A Conservative Extension of the Synchronous Model of Computation

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems

ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems Volume 13, Issue 4s

Special Issue on Real-Time and Embedded Technology and Applications, Domain-Specific Multicore Computing, Cross-Layer Dependable Embedded Systems, and Application of Concurrency to System Design (ACSD'13)

July 2014

571 pages

ISSN:1539-9087

EISSN:1558-3465

DOI:10.1145/2601432

Editors:
Sandeep K. Shukla
Virginia Tech, USA
,
Josep Carmona
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
,
Mihai Teodor Lazarescu
Politecnico di Torino, Italy
,
Marta Pietkiewicz-koutny
Newcastle University, UK

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Copyright © 2014 ACM.

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ACM Journals for the Design of Smart and Connected Systems

Publication History

Published: 28 July 2014

Accepted: 01 February 2014

Received: 01 October 2013

Published in TECS Volume 13, Issue 4s

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Cited By

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626188
Hui JEdwards S(2024)The Sparse Synchronous Model on Real HardwareACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems10.1145/357292023:5(1-30)Online publication date: 14-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3572920
Grimm LSmyth SSchulz-Rosengarten Avon Hanxleden RPouzet M(2024)From Lustre to Graphical Models and SCChartsACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems10.1145/354497323:5(1-28)Online publication date: 14-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544973
Cook SGarcia P(2022)Arbitrarily Parallelizable Code: A Model of Computation Evaluated on a Message-Passing Many-Core SystemComputers10.3390/computers1111016411:11(164)Online publication date: 18-Nov-2022
https://doi.org/10.3390/computers11110164
Gretz FGrosch FMendler MScheele S(2022)Synchronized Shared Memory and Black-box Procedural Abstraction: Towards a Formal Semantics of BlechACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems10.1145/3571585Online publication date: 18-Nov-2022
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Aguado JDuenas A(2021)Synchronised Shared Memory and Model Checking: A Proof of Concept2021 Forum on specification & Design Languages (FDL)10.1109/FDL53530.2021.9568373(01-08)Online publication date: 8-Sep-2021
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Berry GSerrano MDonaldson ATorlak E(2020)HipHop.js: (A)Synchronous reactive web programmingProceedings of the 41st ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation10.1145/3385412.3385984(533-545)Online publication date: 6-Jun-2020
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Edwards SHui J(2020)The Sparse Synchronous Model2020 Forum for Specification and Design Languages (FDL)10.1109/FDL50818.2020.9232938(1-8)Online publication date: 15-Sep-2020
https://doi.org/10.1109/FDL50818.2020.9232938
Gautier TGuy CHonorat ALe Guernic PTalpin JBesnard L(2019)Polychronous automata and their use for formal validation of AADL modelsFrontiers of Computer Science: Selected Publications from Chinese Universities10.1007/s11704-017-6134-513:4(677-697)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2019
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Aguado JMendler MHanxleden RFuhrmann I(2019)Denotational fixed-point semantics for constructive scheduling of synchronous concurrencyActa Informatica10.1007/s00236-015-0238-x52:4-5(393-442)Online publication date: 2-Jan-2019
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