Computer Magazine 1992-01

142 Pages·9.9 MB·English

by  IEEE Computer Society

TOWARD A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
Plus: 3D Processor • Prolog Compiler • Authentication • Parallel Processing • Supercomputing 91
A Symposium on High-Performance Chips
HOT Chips IV
Stanford University, Stanford, California
August 9-11, 1992
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
HOT CHIPS is back once again! Sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on
Microprocessors and Microcomputers, Hot Chips IV is a conference that consists of presentations on
high-performance chip and chip-set products, and related topics. This conference is directed particularly
at new and exciting products. The emphasis is on real products, not academic designs. Participants will
not be required to prepare written papers. The proceedings will consist of copies of the slides to be
presented.
Contributions are solicited in the following areas:
• RISC and CISC Processors • Bus Chips
• Floating Point Processors • Cache Controllers and Memories
• Embedded CPUs • Neural Chips
• Graphics & Image Processing Chips • Systolic Array Chips
• Digital Signal Processors • Compiler Issues with Hot Chips
• Network Chip-Sets • Benchmarking/Performance Evaluation
Proposals should consist of a title, an extended abstract (1-5 pages) describing the product or topic to
be presented, and the name, title, address, phone number, fax number, and electronic mail address of
the presenter. If this is a not-yet-announced product, and you would like the submission kept confiden¬
tial, please indicate it; we will do our best to maintain confidentiality. Submissions can be made by hard
copy, fax, or electronic mail by Friday, March 6, 1992 to:
Bob Miller Office: [phone]
University of California, Berkeley Fax: [phone]
Computer Science Division Email: [email protected]
533 Evans Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
For further general information about the symposium, contact Glen Langdon at [phone] or
[email protected]. For further information about submissions, contact Bob Miller at [phone]
or [email protected].
General Chair Program Co-Chairs
Glen Langdon David Patterson, UC Berkeley
UC Santa Cruz John Mashey, MIPS Computer Systems IEEE
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COMPUTER
January 1992* Vol. 25, No. 1
ARTICLES
g Biting the Silver Bullet: Toward a Brighter Future for
System Development
David Harel
A “vanilla” approach to modeling, together with powerful notions of executability and
code generation, may have a profound impact on the “essence” of developing complex
systems.
Published by 25 The 3DP: A Processor Architecture for Three-
the IEEE
Computer Dimensional Applications
Society Yulun Wang, Amante Mangaser, Steven Butner, Partha Srinivasan, and Steve Jordan
Many computation problems that involve objects in the physical world require numerous
calculations on 3D vectors. This article describes a parallel-computing architecture that
targets these problems.
39 Authentication for Distributed Systems
Thomas Y. C. Woo and Simon S. Lam
A distributed system is susceptible to a variety of security threats mounted by intruders.
We describe a number of protocols to authenticate users, hosts, and processes.
54 High-Performance Logic Programming with the Aquarius
Prolog Compiler
Peter Van Roy and Alvin M. Despain
This optimizing compiler outperforms other Prolog implementations and reduces the
performance gap between systems based on logic programming and those based on
imperative languages.
Copyright and reprint permission:
Copyright © 1992 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
Ipnecr.m Aitltle rdig hwtist hre scerrevdeidt .t Ao btshter acsotiunrgc eis. 71 Parallel-Processing Techniques for Automatic Test
Lbeibyroanrdie tsh ea rleim pietrsm oift UteSd ctoop pyhroigtohct olapwy Pattern Generation
fpthooers tbp-o1rit9vt7oa7mte a orutfsi cethl eeos f f tiphrsaattt r pcoaangrsre:y , (pa1 rc)o ovtdhideo esadet ThRe oebffeirct iHen. cKyl eonfk ea,l gRoornitahlmd sD .f oWr ialulitaomms,a atincd t eJsatm peast tHer. nA gyelonre ration has not kept pace with
the per-copy fee indicated in the code increasing circuit size. Mapping the problem to parallel-processing machines may
iasn cpea iCd etnhtreoru, g2h9 tCheo nCgorepsysr iSgthrte eCt,l eSaar¬¬ improve performance.
lem, MA 01970; (2) pre-1978 articles
SPECIAL REPORT
87 Supercomputing 91
Ware Myers
High-performance computing as a window into the future.
97 Product Reviews Computer’s Silver Anniversary cover:
Alexander Torres
Windows programming environments
105 New Products
108 IC Announcements
In the next issue
110 Microsystem Announcements Parallel processing for computer vision and
image understanding
128 Call for Papers
130 Calendar
134 Book Reviews Career Opportunities, 112; Computer Society
Information, 127; Advertiser/Product Index, 104;
136 Open Channel Reader Service Card, 104A
COMPUTER
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
We can’t please everyone
To the Membership/Circulation sis on the computer science (rather Several of the products I developed
Manager: than computer engineering) aspects of have been reviewed positively in vari¬
computing (which reflects my inter¬ ous Computer Society publications.
It is with some regret that I write to ests), and because they place less em¬ Unfortunately the Computer Soci¬
inform you that I will not be renewing phasis on standardization activities as ety has become so focused on academ¬
my membership in the IEEE Comput¬ a primary goal. ic publication that for the year before
er Society. Unfortunately, it appears I should add that I have been ac¬ I let my membership lapse, I did not
that both the IEEE Computer Society tively involved over the last several see a single article I was interested in
and ACM are continuing their trend years as an ACM representative on reading. While all of your authors
of moving away from support of those two joint ACM/IEEE Computer Soci¬ have impressive research credentials,
of us in colleges and universities who ety committees on educational activi¬ many of them have little experience
are most interested in issues relating ties (the most recent being the Joint actually making programs work, and
to current research and college-level Curriculum Task Force). However, I the articles reflect this.
teaching. This seems to be an inevita¬ find the increased focus of both soci¬ I would suggest the following
ble effect of the attempt to broaden eties over the last several years on ac¬ changes would make Computer much
the membership in these organiza¬ creditation to be a distraction from more useful for practicing software
tions. However, the result is that your more important educational issues. In engineers:
publications have less and less interest particular, we should be more inter¬
to me. Your focus, as expressed in ested in fostering innovation than in (1) Condense the current articles
many editorials and other communica¬ stressing the importance of bean into single-page summaries and
tions, is instead on publishing articles counting as a means of assessing edu¬ leave the publication of full pa¬
which will be of direct and immediate cational quality. For example, I was pers for the transactions.
value to practitioners working on soft¬ disturbed by the role that accredita¬ (2) Add summary lists of new avail¬
ware and hardware development. This tion requirements played in the delib¬ able software tools.
seems to be a necessary by-product of erations of the Joint Curriculum Task (3) Provide in-depth evaluations of
your attempt to retain the interest of Force, whereas the work of the Task various software tools.
this broader membership. Force should have influenced accredi¬ (4) Solicit articles that actually dis¬
The result for me, however, is a tation requirements. cuss software creation, like:
much less interesting set of journals. So as not to be completely negative, • How much does it currently
In particular, IEEE Software used to I should note that I personally find cost to develop software?
publish survey articles which were the research conferences sponsored • What difficulties are involved
highly relevant to me and my stu¬ by the two organizations to be ex¬ in contracting software out?
dents. They discussed recent research tremely valuable. It is the perceived • What are some good team
in a way which made it accessible to a focus of the flagship periodicals and organization and manage¬
larger audience. Unfortunately, I see the organizations themselves that I ment techniques?
much less of that today, and judging find troubling. • What are software testing ex¬
by recent editorials, there will be even I believe the ultimate solution is the pectations for commercial
less of it in the future. creation of a separate society devoted products? Not “cyclomatic”
Since ACM has adopted a similar to the needs of researchers and faculty complexity, etc. Please!
strategy, I find myself belonging to in computing. The needs of practitio¬ (5) In the absence of this type of
two organizations whose goals are be¬ ners and researchers are too disparate sweeping change in editorial fo¬
coming less relevant to mine. Under to be well-served by one society. cus, how about even a single
these circumstances, I have decided monthly column devoted to
that I will retain only one of these two Kim B. Bruce software development issues?
memberships. I have chosen to retain Williams College (6) How about a software develop¬
my ACM membership rather than Williamstown, Massachusetts er’s forum?
that of the IEEE Computer Society
because they place a bit more empha- I recognize that there needs to be a
To the Vice President for Member¬ respected forum for academic publica¬
ship Activities: tion, and Computer in its current form
Computer welcomes your letters. is important. But the IEEE also really
Send to Letters Editor, Computer, Thank you for inviting me to rejoin needs at least one publication for
10662 Los Vaqueros Circle, PO the Computer Society; I would very practicing software engineers. When
Box 3014, Los Alamitos, CA 90720- much like to be a member. I run a you have one, please let me know; I’d
1264. consulting company that produces love to renew my membership.
All submissions are subject to custom software for various customers
editing for style, length, and clarity. nationwide and am one of the individ¬ Charles J. Simon
uals who relies on his talents to create Abtek Computer Corporation
working software products every year. Spokane, Washington
COMPUTER
I National University of
Singapore
Department of Electrical Engineering
Appointments
But, with your help, The Department of Electrical Engineering invites applications for teaching and
we try raeresaesa:r ch appointments from candidates with a PhD degree in one of the following
• Computer Communications
Our readership surveys indicate • Optical Fibre Communications
that members want and need practi¬ • Computer Architecture and Systems
cal, immediately usable material in Besides appointments on normal 3-year contracts, visiting appointments for
[ Computer Society magazines — but one to two years may be considered.
vnomccaaiordilestnleu t,iin sanca,el gan cln lide tkeha sewense dade tphrs i orrelaeoyb rtsp vweetieo aoowr ru tcimhasdhtleie y x ltl eeoy mixfp stdci ,is alciwsuf sf ds.ihe iinDrofe efrnseineoc t oteumi.frn l¬ tedt h i¬e ¬ GrosSARse esanssnioeonacurri aacLlhte ee cS mPtcuroiroeleufnre(m tUsisesStno$/1Ltrs. 0e r0ca =tnu Sgr$ee1 ra. 6s7 fSaSSop$$$lpl558roo838wx,,,i616sm:865 a000te l---y 116) 02402,2,,38017000
That’s why, in addition to Computer, The commencing salary will depend on the candidate’s qualifications, experi¬
we publish six specialty magazines ence and the level of appointment offered.
and five transactions. And, we’re hap¬ Leave and medical benefits will be provided. Depending on the type of contract
py to report, Charles Simon is con¬ offered, other benefits may include: provident fund benefits or an end-of-contract
tinuing his membership now that gratuity, asettling-in allowance of S$1,000 or S$2,000, subsidized housing at nom¬
we’ve told him about IEEE Software inal rentals ranging from S$100 to S$216 p.m., education allowance for up to three
ainCnneagHder d sdohos woo?ftw n wPa prliaeetar a gemws eeeee n 1eldegt0soti4 nitAunhesg ee b kr aysnnt. eo cmeiwrdec svle iitonaifng t gphtr heyae coR tuaiScpr¬¬ ctSpahrinnoilgvcdaaerpl e aononrf e sdt.uh bSbejt aaUegfcnfgt i amvtgoeee rmas i atmblyel,ao rxaswin mmadnu arcmyeet ua ofinfon dSr ce $tor1htn6aes,k 0ute0rl t0aca notpisneopsrnu o alfrntetaneatsuti oimuonp n p wt eooor fra kcp mh,e isarludsxob,i mjnpeaaucslmt s eat oofgff ee t6h ca0ets%s sa i tspoo¬¬f
propriate numbers for our mini reader their gross annual emoluments in a calendar year.
survey below. Lee Kuan Yew Postdoctoral Fellowship
Computer articles are KuAanp pYliecwa nPtos sftodro acptoproailn Ftmelelonwtss ahsip R, wesheiacrhc hw iSllc bieen atwista rmdaeyd atols coa anpdpidlya tfeosr wthieth L eexe¬
161 Tanodo trheesoeraertcihc-aol rfioern tmede cdsheeliglper enwet sha ciinca hdth ewem illialc s btr eefec hwoer ylddes a carnos.dn A cr eutasrxer-eafnrrcetlhey sp twoiptietehnn tdtiha wle ia lcnl abdne wd pihrdooa vhteiad’dse doa buptnpadoineinerd ttmh tehe eFnietrl laPoshw D¬a
162 Just right Research Scientist.
163 Not practical enough to
have immediate value Facilities
The Electrical Engineering Department has currently an academic staff of 53
The type of articles I prefer are with 21 laboratories, all of which have excellent facilities for teaching and re¬
164 Tutorials sOepatrocehl.e Icnt raodndiictsio ann, dth Cereen atrree ftowro I Ce xFtaeirlnuarlel yA fnuanlydseids raensde aRrcelhia cbeilnittyre. sF: aCcielnittirees fion¬r
165 Surveys clude a Riber 32P Molecular Beam Epitaxy System and 2 liquid phase expitaxy
166 Detailed reports systems for research into in—V compound devices. A wide range of computing
resources are available, including numerous PCs, SUN Sparcstations, Microvaxes,
The best article length is and HP 9000 Series 300s. The University Computer Centre operates an IBM3081
167 Short: Under seven KX2, and has acquired a high-speed campus-wide network directly linking the
pages with up to 10 staff’s PCs (now provided to every staff member) to the various computing re¬
articles per issue sources, including 2 supercomputers based in the nearby Science Park. A number
168 Medium: Eight to 12 of large-scale research projects are in progress, including an optical LAN joint ef¬
pages with six to eight fort with Singapore Telecoms and a project to develop VLSI design tools jointly
articles per issue with Chartered Semiconductors.
169 Long: Over 12 pages Application forms and further information on terms and conditions of service
with only five articles may be obtained from:
per issue The Director The Director
Personnel Department North America Office
If you have specific comments, National University of Singapore National University of Singapore
please use the space under “Editorial 10 Kent Ridge Crescent 55 East 59th Street
comments” on the RS card. Singapore 0511 New York, NY 10022 USA
—Ed. Tel: [phone]
Enquiries may also be sent through BITNET to: PERLCH@NUS3090, or through
Telefax: (65) 7783948.
January 1992
International ParaM
Processing Symposium
Join us March 23-26, 1992 at Program Chair Monday, MARCH 23
The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Viktor K. Prasanna, USC
Hills, California. Workshop on Heterogeneous
Program Committee Processing
Dharma Agrawal, North Carolina Chair: Richard F. Freund, Naval
The 6th International Parallel State University Ocean Systems Center
Processing Symposium will Lubomir Bic, UCI
offer an exciting program Mary Eshaghian, NJIT Session I: Systems
covering all aspects of parallel Kai Hwang, USC Session II: Software
and distributed processing. Oscar Ibarra, University of Session III: Applications
This year, the IEEE Computer CJoasliefporhn iJaa,’ JSaa’n, tUa nBivaerrbsaitrya of Keynote Address: Heterogeneous
Society is sponsoring the Maryland Network Computing Environments:
event in cooperation with the Lennart Johnsson, Thinking Trends and Issues
ACM SIGARCH and the Machines Corporation & Harvard
Computer Society’s Orange University Vaidy Sunderam, Department of
County Chapter. H. T. Kung, CMU Mathematics and Computer
Louis Lome, SDI/ISTO Science, Emory University
Over 350 papers were SL.c Mie.n cPea tnaik, Indian Institute of Tutorial 1: Designing Parallel
submitted and include work of Thomas Probert, Encore Computer Algorithms
researchers from all around Corp. Joseph JaJa’, University of
the world. The papers John Reif, Duke University Maryland
selected will be presented in Sartaj Sahni, University of Florida
21 sessions. J. L. C. Sanz, IBM Almaden Tutorial 2: Using Compositional
Research Center Programming to Write Portable,
H. J. Siegel, Purdue University High Performance Parallel
opInnr e ahsdeedntietti rotoungt,o erIniPaePlosSu, sa‘ 9 pw2r oowrciklel sshsoinpg , THDEeaiavxrriloas Silsod wn S atrotznlea,n dIBeMr, URneisveearrscithy of oPKCf.ra oTrMgle rKacanhemins Coss elholamgnyad ny, Canaldif ornia Institute
and a parallel systems fair. Benjamin Wah, University of Illinois
Organizing Committee Finances
Bill Pitts, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc.
General Chair Publicity
Larry Canter, Computer Systems Approach, Inc. Sally Jelinek, Electronic Design Associates
Steering Committee Chair Local Arrangements
George Westrom, Odetics, Inc. Susamma Barua, California State University,
Fullerton
March 23-26,1992
•
The Beverly Hilton-l
Sponsored by IEEE Computer Society In cooperation with acm SIGARCH
Tuesday, MARCH 24 Wednesday, MARCH 25 Thursday, MARCH 26
Keynote Address: On the Role of Keynote Address: How to Improve Keynote Address: A Look at the
Randomness in the Design of Parallel System Performance Evolution of Software for Numerical
Interconnection Networks Linear Algebra
David Kuck, University of Illinois at
F. Thomson Leighton, Urbana-Champaign Jack Dongarra, University of
Massachusetts Institute of Tennessee and Oak Ridge
Technology Commercial Exhibits National Laboratory
Parallel Systems Fair (Concurrent Morning) Commercial Exhibits
Session 10: Algorithms-IV
Commercial Exhibits Session 11: Applications-lll (Concurrent Morning)
Session 12: Software-1 Session 16: Architecture-ll
(Concurrent Morning) Session 17: Applications-V
Session 1: Algorithms-I (Concurrent Afternoon) Session 18: Systems
Session 2: Architectures-1 Session 13: Networks-1
Session 3: Mapping/ Session 14: Applications-IV (Concurrent Afternoon)
Scheduling-I Session 15: Software-II Session 19: Networks-ll
Session 20: Distributed Systems
(Concurrent Afternoon) Panel: HPCC Initiative and the Session 21: Software-II
Session 4: Algorithms-ll Role of Academia
Session 5: Applications-I Tutorial 3: Introduction to Parallel
Session 6: Mapping/ Wine & Cheese Reception Computing
Scheduling-ll Mary Eshaghian, NJIT
(Concurrent Evening) Tutorial 4: Paradigms and Tools
Session 7: Algorithms-lll for Heterogeneous Network
Session 8: Applications-ll Computing
Session 9: Special Purpose Jack Dongarra, University of
Architectures Tennessee & Vaidy Sunderam,
Emory University
Welcome Reception
For more information, please write the IPPS ‘92 Registrar at the IEEE Computer Society, 1730
Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036-1903 or telephone [phone] or send
fax to 202-728-0884.
The Advance Program may be obtained by anonymous ftp from [email protected]
(login as ftp and get pub/ipps92.adpgm). For information on commercial exhibits, send
message to [email protected] or fax [phone].
Biting the
Silver Bullet
Toward a Brighter Future
for System Development
David Harel, Weizmann Institute of Science
I
n an eloquent and thoughtful 1986 article, Frederick Brooks expresses his
I feelings about the illusions and hopes software engineering offers.1 He argues
) that many proposed ideas are not “silver bullets” that will deliver us from the
horrors of developing complex systems.
Brooks’ article is reminiscent of Parnas’ series of minipapers2 that accompanied
his widely publicized resignation from the Strategic Defense Initiative Organiza¬
tion (SDIO) Panel on Computing in 1985. Parnas claims that current proposals are
vastly inadequate to build reliable software as complex as that required for the SDI
project.
We thus have two rather discouraging position papers, authored by two of the
most influential figures in the software world. Neither is a critique of software
engineering per se, although both make an effort to dissolve myths of magical
power that people have cultivated concerning certain trends in the field.
This article was triggered by those of Brooks and Parnas. It is not a rebuttal.
Indeed, I agree with most of the specific points made in both papers. Instead, the
goal of this article is to illuminate the brighter side of the coin, emphasizing
A “vanilla” approach developments in the field that were too recent or immature to have influenced
to modeling, together Brooks and Parnas when they wrote their manuscripts.
The two main aspects of these developments have to do with a carefully wrought
with powerful notions “vanilla” approach to system modeling and the emergence of powerful methods to
execute and analyze the resulting models. It can be argued that the combined effect
of executability and of these and other ideas is already showing positive signs and appears to have the
code generation, may potential to provide a truly major improvement in our present abilities — pro¬
foundly affecting the essence of the problem. This might take more than the 10
have a profound years Brooks focuses on. It will surely be a long time before reliable software for
impact on the the likes of the SDI project can be built. Such a system remains an order of
magnitude too large and too critical to construct today, mainly because of its first¬
“essence” of developing time-must-work nature. But I also believe that we are on the royal (main) road and
that the general impression you get from reading the Brooks and Parnas articles is
complex systems. far too bleak.
8 0018-9162/92/0100-0 COMPUTER