Programming system builds multiprocessor software
Paul R. Wilson · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 1983
Based on a new language, called Occam, the Occam programming system, or OPS, was developed to encourage and simplify the design of software for distributed systems by directly capturing the interconnections of system components. With a few keystrokes, the designer specifies constructors that tell the OPS how the following block of code should be executed: sequentially, concurrently, or as one of several alternatives. The design of a real-time spectrum analyzer demonstrates both the power of the OPS and Occam's natural ability to tackle multiprocessor systems. The example concentrates on just that portion of the instrument that implements the fast fourier transform.