A distributed tuple-space with fault-tolerance
Lewis Isaiah Patterson · 1992
Tuple-space is the underlying model for a set of language extensions known as Linda. These extensions are normally implemented by compiler modifications and are intended to facilitate parallel programming. Linda is most often associated with the traditional MIMD environment. This work has separated the tuple-space concept from compiler modification and refocused its simple elegance on the distributed environment. The tuple-space resulting from this research is a network-global storage space in which the unit of storage is a tuple consisting of key and content. These persistent storage objects are addressed associatively via their key. The tuples along with a small set of primitives provide for interprocess creation, communication and synchronization. A network of Unix systems may be linked using tuple-space to form a powerful multiprocessor suitable for use with medium to large grain parallel algorithms. The concept has been tested using three contexts: (1) an algorithmic benchmark activity calculating prime numbers; (2) game playing using the board game of Othello; (3) distributed simulation utilizing a subset of the GPSS language.