Programming Distributed Systems

ABSTRACT

For a number of technical and economic reasons, distributed computing is increasing rapidly in importance. The main technical considerations are the increased performance of small machines and of communications systems relative to that of giant computers and the opportunity for greater system reliability through redundancy. The economic considerations include all of the technical ones plus additional aspects including the geographic dispersal of needs and the organizational advantages of more specialized facilities (cf. Bank of America article in Datamation [1976]). The Computer Science Department of the University of Rochester has, from its inception in 1974, directed much of its research effort toward a better understanding of distributed computing.

REFERENCES

• 1: Ball, et al., "RIG, Rochester's Intelligent Gateway: System Overview," TR5, Computer Science Department, University of Rochester, April 1976; also appeared in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol. SE-2, No. 4, December 1976.
• 2: Cohen, D., "Specifications for the Network Voice Protocol," ISI/RR-75-39, Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, March 1976.
• 3: Foster, John D., "Distributive Processing for Banking," Datamation, July 1976.
• 4: Hoare, C. A. R., "Communicating Sequential Processes," Computer Science Department, Queen's University, Belfast, March 1977.
• 5: Hoare, C. A. R. and Wirth, N., "An Axiomatic Definition of the Programming Language Pascal," ACTA Informatica, Vol. 2, 1973.
• 6: Rovner, P. D., working paper, to appear as TR22, Computer Science Department, University of Rochester, 1977.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.4 Distributed Systems

General Terms:
Theory

Keywords:
Computer networks, Distributed computing, Programming systems and languages