Object oriented support on transputers

This thesis investigates and demonstrates the successful integration of object oriented approach with concurrent programming. It demonstrates that transputers coupled with virtual channels can provide an effective and efficient coarse grained object oriented programming environment. A methodology for concurrent object oriented design is developed and explained. This methodology is used to develop an application program using the virtual channel router, which mimics the transputer T9000 and its virtual channel processor. Testing is then carried out to validate and demonstrate the working of the application developed. The design developed is thereafter mapped onto a programming environment wherein broadcast communication is used and mimics a shared memory model instead of point to point communication in a distributed memory model. This is first done using BSP Occam and then Occam 3. An assessment of the advantages of object orientation and parallel processing on transputer T9000 is then concluded based on the research done during the design, implementation and testing stages. The thesis has validated that object oriented concepts can be successfully implemented on transputer - occam thereby achieving an efficient and effective medium grained parallel objects.