Objective
The aim of the project was to experiment with the implementation of a microprocessor architecture with a distributed run-time system supporting Ada and reconfiguration.
It built on the feasibility study "Ada for distributed multi-processor systems" performed under the first Multi-Annual Programme. This study concluded that since the Ada language does not offer suitable solutions for programming distributed targets, it is the MAPSE/APSE that should control and prepare programs for them. The main objective was to demonstrate the feasibility of distributing a single Ada program so that its constituent tasks execute on different processors (nodes), and communicate with each other (e.g. by the rendezvous) using the links between nodes. Ada programming techniques were developed to support this approach.
For a demonstration, a multi-processor target has been linked to a host. A commercially available Ada compiler has been used, but the run-time system, normally linked into the compiled programme, has been replaced by the distributed run-time system, developed as part of this project. A successful demonstration was organized at the Ada-UK Conference in York, UK (January 1987).
The final report of the project has been published as a volume in the Ada Companion Series ("Ada for Distributed Systems" by C. Atkinson, T. Moreton and A. Natali, Cambridge University Press, 1988).
Topic(s)
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