Remote Evaluation.
Abstract
A new technique for computer to computer communication is presented that can increase the generality and performance of distributed systems. This technique, called Remote Evaluation, lets one computer send another computer a request in the form of a program. A computer that receives such a request executes the program in the request and returns the results to the sending computer. Remote evaluation provides a new degree of flexibility in the design of distributed systems. In present distributed system that use Remote Procedure Calls, server computers are designed to offer a fixed set of services. In a system that uses remote evaluation, server computers are more properly viewed as programmable soft abstractions. One consequence of this flexibiltiy is that remote evaluation can reduce the amount of communication that is required to accomplish a given task. The author's thesis is that it is possible to design a remote evaluation system that permits the processing of a program to be distributed among remote computers without changing the program's semantics. His proposal for remote evaluation uses the same argument passing semantics for local and remote procedure invocations (call by sharing); it provides atomic transactions to mask computer and communication failures; and it provides a static checking framework that identifies procedures that can not be relocated from computer to computer. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA169739
Entities
People
- James W. Stamos
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology