Two Fundamental Issues in Multiprocessing: The Dataflow Solution

Abstract

To exploit the parallelism inherent in algorithms, any multiprocessor system must address two very basic issues - long memory latencies and waits for synchronization events. It is argued on the basis of the evolution of high performance computers that the processor idle time induced by memory latency and synchronization waits cannot be reduced simultaneously in von Neumann style multiprocessors. Dataflow architectures are offered as an alternative because, given enough parallelism in the program, they can reduce both latency and sychronization costs.