Inheritance Used to Factorize: Distributed Termination Detection Algorithms

Abstract

A multiple inheritance mechanism on processes is introduced. Processes are described in classes, and the different action parts of a process inherited from different classes are executed in a coroutine-like style called alternation.

The inheritance mechanism is a useful tool for factorizing the description of common aspects of processes. This is demonstrated within the domain of distributed programming by using the inheritance mechanism to factorize the description of distributed termination detection algorithms from the description of the distributed main computations for which termination is to be detected.

The factorization is obtained by programming the termination detection algorithms in separate classes. The main computations are programmed in classes that use appropriate termination detection classes as superclasses. A clear separation of concerns is obtained, and arbitrary combinations of termination detection algorithms and main computations can be formed.