Models of higher-order, type-safe, distributed computation overautonomous persistent object stores

[摘要] A remote procedure call (RPC) mechanism permits the calling of procedures in anotheraddress space. RPC is a simple but highly effective mechanism for interprocess communicationand enjoys nowadays a great popularity as a tool for building distributed applications.This popularity is partly a result of their overall simplicity but also partly a consequenceof more than 20 years of research in transpaxent distribution that have failed to deliversystems that meet the expectations of real-world application programmers.During the same 20 years, persistent systems have proved their suitability for buildingcomplex database applications by seamlessly integrating features traditionally found indatabase management systems into the programming language itself. Some research. efforthas been invested on distributed persistent systems, but the outcomes commonly sufferfrom the same problems found with transparent distribution.In this thesis I claim that a higher-order persistent RPC is useful for building distributedpersistent applications. The proposed mechanism is: realistic in the sense that it usescurrent technology and tolerates partial failures; understandable by application programmers;and general to support the development of many classes of distributed persistentapplications.In order to demonstrate the validity of these claims, I propose and have implemented threemodels for distributed higher-order computation over autonomous persistent stores. Eachmodel has successively exposed new problems which have then been overcome by the nextmodel. Together, the three models provide a general yet simple higher-order persistentRPC that is able to operate in realistic environments with partial failures.The real strength of this thesis is the demonstration of realism and simplicity. A higherorderpersistent RPC was not only implemented but also used by programmers withoutexperience of programming distributed applications. Furthermore, a distributed persistentapplication has been built using these models which would not have been feasible with atraditional (non-persistent) programming language.

[发布机构] University:University of Glasgow

[关键词] QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science