Echidna, an estelle compiler to prototype protocols on distributed computers
Claude Jard, Jean‐Marc Jezéquél · Concurrency Practice and Experience · 1992
Abstract We report our experience in developing a compiler and a distributed run‐time kernel for distributed computers, called Echidna. Echidna is a software package which has been available for more than two years, and aims to support protocol designers in protocol modeling, validation and performance evaluation. It is basically oriented towards the rapid prototyping of distributed algorithms on distributed computers: the Intel iPSC hypercube, the Supernode machine, and networks of Transputers and Suns were considered. Algorithms are described using an ISO formal description technique called Estelle. First, we present and justify the concept of experimentation on distributed algorithms for which our Estelle compiler has been designed. Then we discuss how Estelle constructs are mapped onto C structures and how they are interpreted by a distributed run‐time kernel. We conclude by presenting typical uses of Echidna.