On the Design of a Language for Programming Real-Time Concurrent Processes

ILIAD is a high-evel language for programming real-time applications which involve concurrent processing. It was designed to help scientists and engineers write reliable programs that can be read and maintained. An ILIAD program consists of a group of concurrent tasks. The tasks are autonomous and must cooperate in using the shared memory and devices in the execution environment. The language has facilities for providing secure access to these resources and for creating and synchronizing parallel instruction streams. In providing an overview of the language, the factors motivating the major design choices are discussed. A programming example illustrates how ILIAD might be applied. An assessment of the language includes a discussion of potential problem areas, both technical and nontechnical.