Work

Remote evaluation

Year: 1990

Type: article

Abstract: A new technique for computer-to-computer communication is presented that can increase the 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 systems 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 processors. One consequence of this flexibility is that remote evaluation can reduce the amount of communication that is required to accomplish a given task. In this paper we discuss the semantics of remote evaluation and its effect on distributed system design. We also summarize our experience with a prototype implementation.

Source: ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems

DOI: 10.1145/88616.88631

Authors: James W. Stamos, David K. Gifford

Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Distributed and Parallel Computing Systems

Subfield: Computer Networks and Communications

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Advanced Research Projects Agency, Office of Naval Research

Award: G8876996369