University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Cross-Architecture Procedure Call

Essick, Raymond Brooke, IV

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69574

Description

Title
The Cross-Architecture Procedure Call
Author(s)
Essick, Raymond Brooke, IV
Issue Date
1987
Department of Study
Computer Science
Discipline
Computer Science
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Computer Science
Abstract
  • This thesis introduces the Cross-Architecture Procedure Call. Cross-Architecture Procedure Calls (or CAPC s) combine virtual memory, high speed networking, and compatible data representations to accelerate an application's computations without modifying its code. CAPCs allow workstation applications to use, on a demand basis, faster or more expensive processors as compute servers so that each of an application's functions can be executed by the most appropriate processor.
  • The CAPC process executes in a single virtual address space shared by several CPUs. Instructions for each CPU are stored in different regions of the virtual address space. Routines are compiled for the processor that can most effectively execute them. CAPCs do not require special calling sequences to transfer control between processors. Instead, virtual memory page protections are used to implement transfers between processors. Routines on all processors share access to global variables, including pointer data types. A modified operating system uses demand-paging to control access to these shared pages. Because the CPUs share the same internal data representation, pages can be moved between processors without any conversion operations.
  • This thesis describes the CAPC construct, a sufficient level of similarity between processors architectures to use CAPCs, and a CAPC implementation based on the SUN 3.0 Operating System.
Graduation Semester
1987
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/69574

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