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Distributed Computing on Distributed Memory

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System Analysis and Modeling. Languages, Methods, and Tools for Systems Engineering (SAM 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 11150))

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Abstract

Distributed computation is formalized in several description languages for computation, as e.g. Unified Modeling Language (UML), Specification and Description Language (SDL), and Concurrent Abstract State Machines (CASM). All these languages focus on the distribution of computation, which is somewhat the same as concurrent computation. In addition, there is also the aspect of distribution of state, which is often neglected. Distribution of state is most commonly represented by communication between active agents. This paper argues that it is desirable to abstract from the communication and to consider abstract distributed state. This includes semantic handling of conflict resolution, e.g. in connection with data replication. The need for abstract distribution of state is discussed and a novel semantics for concurrency based on an abstract distributed state is presented. This semantics uses runs over so-called multistates, and hides the internal communication for replica handling. This way, distributed computation is described over an abstract memory model.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    As communicating ASMs [4] show, it is also possible to implement local state on top of global state.

  2. 2.

    In reality, a global clock means perfect clock synchronization, which is impossible.

  3. 3.

    The non-shared locations are not relevant here.

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Acknowledgements

This work benefited from many discussions with Egon Börger and Klaus-Dieter Schewe. In particular, the modelling of Cassandra in CASM is joint work with them. I am grateful for the helpful comments of the anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of ICT, University of Agder, Agder, Norway

    Andreas Prinz

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  1. Andreas Prinz
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Correspondence to Andreas Prinz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Ferhat Khendek

  2. University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Reinhard Gotzhein

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Prinz, A. (2018). Distributed Computing on Distributed Memory. In: Khendek, F., Gotzhein, R. (eds) System Analysis and Modeling. Languages, Methods, and Tools for Systems Engineering. SAM 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11150. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01042-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01042-3_5

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01042-3

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