A Survey of Some Theoretical Aspects of Multiprocessing

In this paper, several theoretical aspects of multiprocessing are surveyed. First, we look at the language features that help in exploiting parallelism. The additional instructions needed for a multiprocessor architecture; problems, such as mutual exclusion, raised by the concurrent processing of parts of a program; and the extensions to existing high-level languages are examined. The methods for automatic detection of parallelism in current high-level languages are then reviewed both at the inter and intra statement levels. The following part of the paper deals with more theoretical aspects of multiprocessing. Different models for parallel computation such as graph models, Petri nets, parallel flowcharts, and flow graph schemata are introduced. Finally, prediction of performance of multiprocessors either through analysis of models or by simulation is examined In an appendix, an attempt ~s made toward the classification of existing multlprocessors