Typed first-class communication channels and mobility for concurrent scripting languages

Abstract

In the 1990s, there was considerable interest in mobile computation: systems in which running computations (or mobile agents) could be moved from one machine to another. Much of this work was in terms of high-level programming languages and mobile process calculi. An example is Nomadic Pict-a prototype high-level programming language in which to express and verify overlay networks, for reliable communication between mobile agents. One can ask whether the language abstractions could be useful for scripting programming in modern distributed deployment platforms, such as many-core processors, grids, web servers and datacentres. In this paper, we demonstrate selected features of Nomadic Pict, and show the use of typed channels and agent mobility for programming in the grid. We demonstrate example design patterns that can be used for implementing safe message passing, test & send, system bootstrapping, and relocatable computation. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.