KTK: kernel support for configurable objects and invocations

The Kernel Tool Kit (KTK) is an object-based operating system kernel and parallel programming library that offers explicit support for on- and off-line program configuration. Specifically, KTK allows the specification of attributes for object classes, object instances, state variables, operations and object invocations. Attributes are interpreted by policy classes that may be varied separately from the abstractions with which they are associated. They can be used to vary object internal implementation and semantics without affecting the methods being invoked. In this paper, the runtime configuration of KTK attributes is shown to improve the runtime performance of multiprocessor applications. KTK is layered on a portable and configurable parallel programming substrate, a Mach Cthreads compatible runtime library[22]