Tuple space can be thought of as virtual shared memory that holds objects accessed by description, with tuples being sequences of typed data fields. Linda simplifies program design by managing a distributed tuple space that stores tuples close to the nodes needed to read them. The programmer does not need to be concerned about communication paths and synchronization. Linda will be available soon on the parallel machines. The syntax and style of Strand88 programs are similar to those of the sequential logic language, Prolog.
Strand uses logic variables to handle communication and synchronization.
The programmer does not need to add parallelism explicitly. The program may be distributed among processors by direct allocation or by system-supplied mapping. To use Strand, you must register for access by filling out a form. The Strand user guide and technical reference guide are available on Hydra via the doc utility as strandug, strandref1, and strandref2. Programmers can view PVM as a parallel computing resource that supports a message-passing model of computation.