Subject: Comments on fifo and event proposal
From: Peter Ashenden (peter@ashenden.com.au)
Date: Fri Aug 01 2003 - 05:38:13 PDT
Folks,
The FIFO and Event proposals (TBV4 and TBV7) both address a requirement to
provide a higher-level form of communication and synchronization than
signals. I'd like to draw your attention to some work Phil Wilsey and I did
several years ago addressing this requirement (among others). See the
material on SUAVE at www.ashenden.com.au/suave.html. In particular, see the
SUAVE Language Description at http://forest/suave/suave-descr-july-1999.pdf.
In SUAVE, we provided FIFO channels as an abstract communication and
synchronization mechanism. A channel could be declared to be unbounded
(indefinite capacity) or bounded (fixed capacity, including zero). The
difference between non-zero and zero capacity gives asynchronous versus
synchronous communication. We provided send and receive operations, as well
as non-deterministic choice based on channel readiness. We also provided
for interface channels (in the same way that ports are interface signals).
Finally, we provided for data-less channels, in which data-less events were
queued.
It seems that the channel and associated features provides what is required
of both FIFOs and Events, plus more, in a way that integrates with the
existing language cleanly. I'd be interested to hear other peoples views.
Cheers,
PA
-- Dr. Peter J. Ashenden peter@ashenden.com.au Ashenden Designs Pty. Ltd. www.ashenden.com.au PO Box 640 Ph: +61 8 8339 7532 Stirling, SA 5152 Fax: +61 8 8339 2616 Australia Mobile: +61 414 70 9106
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