Patent ID: 7162476

Claim:
A method for sharing data within a distributed computing system having a plurality of nodes, wherein each node includes a processor and memory, the method comprising: distributing an application across two or more nodes, including a first and a second node, wherein distributing the application includes creating application processes, associating the application processes with a group and distributing the application processes to the first and second nodes; defining a data object in memory on the first node, wherein defining a data object includes allocating memory for the data object; assigning a name to the data object; making the data object available to the application processes on the first and second nodes that are associated with the group, wherein making the data object available includes mapping the name to a data object handle; returning the data object handle to a process associated with the group in response to a request from the process based on the data object name; and accessing data within the data object from the second node through references to the data object handle.