Reduction of Software Development Costs Under the Sombrero Distributed Single Address Space Operating System
Ron Feigen, Alan Skousen, Donald S. Miller · Parallel and Distributed Processing Techniques and Applications · 2002
Sombrero is a distributed single address space operating system (SASOS). DSM and persistence are part of the fundamental nature of a distributed SASOS because the common virtual address space is distributed, shared and persistent. We believe that the major reason for using a SASOS is that many useful applications would be less complex if written to run on a SASOS rather than under a conventional process-oriented multiple address space operating system (MASOS). This paper examines the potential for reduction in software complexity of applications developed under the Single Address Space Operating System Sombrero versus those developed under a conventional process-oriented operating system, Windows 2000. To test Sombrero‘s impact on development costs, a set of sample database applications with varying functionality was developed under Windows 2000 and Sombrero. Using accepted software engineering metrics, the software complexity of these systems was compared. The results obtained indicate a substantial reduction of software complexity and software development costs in a single address space environment such as that provided by Sombrero. Reasons for this based on the code required to perform the same tasks in the Sombrero and Windows 2000 environments are presented.