The Origin of Concurrent Programming From Semaphores to Remote Procedure Calls

One cannot build or understand a modern operating system unless one knows the principles of concurrent programming. This volume is a collection of 19 original papers on the invention and origins of concurrent programming, illustrating the major breakthroughs in the field from the mid 1960s to the late 1970s. All of them are written by the pioneers in concurrent programming, including Brinch Hansen himself, and have introductions added that summarize the papers and put them in perspective. This anthology is an essential reference for professional programmers, researchers, and students of electrical engineering and computer science. A familiarity with operating system principles is assumed.

Overview.- The Invention of Concurrent Programming.- I Conceptual Innovation.- 1 Cooperating Sequential Processes.- 2 The Structure of the THE Multiprogramming System.- 3 RC 4000 Software: Multiprogramming System.- 4 Hierarchical Ordering of Sequential Processes.- II Programming Language Concepts.- 5 Towards a Theory of Parallel Programming.- 6 An Outline of a Course on Operating System Principles.- 7 Structured Multiprogramming.- 8 Shared Classes.- 9 Monitors: An Operating System Structuring Concept.- III Concurrent Programming Languages.- 10 The Programming Language Concurrent Pascal.- IV Model Operating Systems.- 11 The Solo Operating System: A Concurrent Pascal Program.- 12 The Solo Operating System: Processes, Monitors and Classes.- 13 Design Principles.- V Distributed Computing.- 14 A Synthesis Emerging?.- 15 Communicating Sequential Processes.- 16 Distributed Processes: A Concurrent Programming Concept.- 17 Joyce—A Programming Language for Distributed Systems.- VI Implementation Issues.- 18 SuperPascal: A Publication Language for Parallel Scientific Computing.- 19 Efficient Parallel Recursion.