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International Conference on Computing and Information

ICCI 1990: Advances in Computing and Information — ICCI '90 pp 443–452Cite as

A model of communication in Ada using shared data abstractions

  • Computer Architecture, Concurrency, Parallelism, Communication And Networking
  • Conference paper
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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 468))

Abstract

Language-level concurrency is becoming more widely available in programming languages, placing parallel programming features in the hands of many programmers for the first time. Unfortunately, the precise semantics of these features is frequently not well understood, principally because of the informal way in which such features are described. Typical of such informal description techniques is the manner in which technical English is used in the Ada Language Reference Manual to define the tasking facilities of Ada.

This paper describes a formal model of the intertask communication aspect of the programming language Ada. The model is an information structure model whose precision is based on the use of shared data abstractions (an extension of abstract data types which allows for parallel access). The model enables the description of parallel programming languages in a manner which is suited to the needs of diverse groups of potential users of a language definition: programmers, compiler writers and those interested in making comparisons between languages (such as language designers).

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, The University of Adelaide, G.P.O. Box 498, 5001, Adelaide, S.A., Australia

    Chris Marlin & Michael Oudshoorn

  2. Hewlett Packard — Colorado Networks Division, 3404 East Harmony Road, 80525, Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.A.

    Dennis Freidel

Authors
  1. Chris Marlin
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  2. Michael Oudshoorn
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  3. Dennis Freidel
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Editor information

S. G. Akl F. Fiala W. W. Koczkodaj

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© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Marlin, C., Oudshoorn, M., Freidel, D. (1991). A model of communication in Ada using shared data abstractions. In: Akl, S.G., Fiala, F., Koczkodaj, W.W. (eds) Advances in Computing and Information — ICCI '90. ICCI 1990. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 468. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-53504-7_102

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-53504-7_102

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-53504-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-46677-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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