Perdio will be implemented on Unix-based workstations connected through standard Internet protocols. Users without special system privileges will be able to install Perdio on their workstations and to transparently enter the Perdio universe through the Internet. We will experiment with scenarios from mobile computing and start work on an environment for collaborative and distributed program development. Oz is already used inside and outside of the DFKI for applications that require processing of complex symbolic representations, organization into multiple agents, and soft real-time control. Oz's primary structuring concept for concurrent programming is the object.
Objects combine stateful data abstraction with mutual exclusion and synchronization.
Oz is based on logic variables and constraints, thus realizing an expressive and straightforward form of concurrent control that originated with concurrent logic programming. A key advantage of Oz is its simple yet expressive formal computation model. Objects and other programming abstractions are obtained from a small set of orthogonal primitives. Oz is in fact the first language whose concurrent object system is constructed in a principled and formal manner. Once distribution and persistence issues are understood for the basic computation model underlying Oz, they will extend readily to the rest of the language.