Publications
362 results found
Magee J, Kramer J, Sloman M, 1988, An Overview of Distributed System Construction using Conic, The Application of Advanced Computing Concepts and Techniques in Control Engineering, Publisher: Springer-Verlag, Pages: 237-255
KRAMER J, MAGEE J, SLOMAN M, 1987, THE CONIC TOOLKIT FOR BUILDING DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS, IEE PROC-D, Vol: 134, Pages: 73-82, ISSN: 0143-7054
Sloman M, Kramer J, 1987, Distributed systems and computer networks., Publisher: Prentice Hall, ISBN: 978-0-13-215849-7
Kramer J, Magee J, Sloman M, 1987, The Conic Support Environment for Distributed Systems, Distributed Operating Systems: Theory and Practice, Publisher: Springer-Verlag, Pages: 289-310
Dulay N, Kramer J, Magee J, et al., 1987, Distributed System Construction: Experience with the Conic Toolkit, Experiences with Distributed Systems, Publisher: Springer-Verlag, Pages: 189-212
DULAY N, KRAMER J, MAGEE J, et al., 1987, DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM CONSTRUCTION - EXPERIENCE WITH THE CONIC TOOLKIT, Proceedings of the International Workshop on Experiences with Distributed Systems, Publisher: SPRINGER VERLAG, Pages: 189-212, ISSN: 0302-9743
For the last eight years the Distributed Systems Research Group at Imperial College has conducted research into the development of an environment to support the construction and operation of distributed software. The result has been the Conic Toolkit: a comprehensive set of language and run-time tools for program compilation, building, debugging and execution in a distributed environment. Programs may be run on a set of interconnected host computers running the Unix operating system and/or on target machines with no resident operating system.Two languages are provided, one for programming individual task modules (processes) and one for the configuration of programs from simpler groups of task modules. In addition the enviroment supports the re-use of program components and allows the configuration of new components into running systems. This dynamic configuration capability is provided by a distributed configuration management tool which is the primary method of creating, controlling and modifying distributed application programs. The system also supports user transparent datatype transformation between heterogeneous processors.This paper describes and reflects on the major design principles of the Conic toolkit and discusses the experiences both of the Conic research group and the various other universities and industries who are using the toolkit.
Sloman M, Kramer J, Magee J, 1986, CONIC TOOLKIT FOR BUILDING DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS., Pages: 79-89
CONIC provides a set of tools for building flexible distributed systems for embedded applications such as factory automation, telecommunications, process monitoring and control. The CONIC programming language is used to program individual software modules which communicate by naming only local entryports and exitports. This gives configuration independence and allows reuse of the modules in various situations. A separate configuration language is used to specify a system by creating instances of modules and interconnecting exit and entryports. The configuration language is also used to specify changes which can be performed dynamically without shutting down the complete system. These features of a CONIC system provide the flexibility for adapting to changing requirements. This paper describes the CONIC programming and configuration languages as well as the run-time support needed for dynamic configuration. The paper also gives an overview of the Unix based tools available for building and testing software for distributed target computers. We discuss experiences of using these tools and future work planned on the project.
LOQUES OG, KRAMER J, 1986, FLEXIBLE FAULT TOLERANCE FOR DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER-SYSTEMS, IEE PROCEEDINGS-E COMPUTERS AND DIGITAL TECHNIQUES, Vol: 133, Pages: 319-332, ISSN: 0143-7062
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- Citations: 6
Sloman M, Kramer J, 1986, Distributed Systems and Computer Networks, Publisher: Prentice Hall
SLOMAN M, KRAMER J, MAGEE J, et al., 1986, FLEXIBLE COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE FOR DISTRIBUTED EMBEDDED SYSTEMS, IEE PROC-E, Vol: 133, Pages: 201-211, ISSN: 0143-7062
Sloman M, Kramer J, Magee J, et al., 1986, FLEXIBLE COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE FOR DISTRIBUTED EMBEDDED SYSTEMS., IEE Proceedings E: Computers and Digital Techniques, Vol: 133, Pages: 201-211, ISSN: 0143-7062
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- Citations: 4
Sloman MS, Kramer J, Magee J, 1985, FLEXIBLE APPROACH TO PROGRAMMING DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS., IEE Conference Publication, Pages: 341-346
A prototype system based on a network of LSI 11 microcomputers interconnected by an Omninet serial bus and Cambridge Ring has been in use for a number of years. We now have about 4 years experience of using earlier versions of the programming and configuration languages for implementing operating system utilities, device drivers, communication systems, and distributed simulations. It has been used both by experienced systems programmers and students for project work. The prototype software is also being used by the National Coal Board for implementing software for distributed underground monitoring and control stations. This experience has shown that Conic provides an simple, yet flexible, approach to structuring a problem as a set of communicating components.
KRAMER J, MAGEE J, 1985, DYNAMIC CONFIGURATION FOR DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, Vol: 11, Pages: 424-436, ISSN: 0098-5589
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- Citations: 137
Kramer J, Magee J, 1984, ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR SYSTEM EVOLUTION., Pages: 77-87
In order to cope with evolutionary change, systems must be flexible. The authors propose that the necessary flexibility be provided by the reconfiguration of software components, and explore the properties required of the support environment for reconfigurable systems. They introduce a model of the configuration process that permits dynamic, incremental modification and extension. Using this model, they determine the properties required of languages and their execution environments to support dynamic configuration. An example is provided to illustrate these required properties and some current approaches are evaluated against the requirements. Finally, some remarks are made about the properties required of the application software.
Sloman M, Kramer J, Magee J, et al., 1984, FLEXIBLE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER CONTROL., Distributed Computer Control Systems, Pages: 115-127
This paper describes an extensible communication system for the CONIC Architecture for Distributed Real-time Systems. The CONIC programming language primitives for both local and remote interprocess communication are presented. The communication system which supports these primitives is itself implemented in the CONIC language. It exploits the configuration flexibility of CONIC to provide a very simple basic datagram service which is extensible at configuration time to give additional services such as virtual circuit and multidestination. The paper relates the CONIC communication system to the ISO Reference Model.
KRAMER J, MAGEE J, SLOMAN M, 1984, A SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE FOR DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER CONTROL-SYSTEMS, AUTOMATICA, Vol: 20, Pages: 93-102, ISSN: 0005-1098
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- Citations: 4
Kramer J, Magee J, Sloman M, 1984, Building Flexible Distributed Systems in CONIC, Distributed Computing Systems Programme, Editors: Duce, Publisher: Peter Peregrinus, Pages: 86-106
Kramer J, Magee J, Sloman M, 1983, DYNAMIC SYSTEM CONFIGURATION FOR DISTRIBUTED REAL-TIME SYSTEMS., Vol: 16, Pages: 31-42
Dynamic system configuration is the ability to modify and extend a system while it is running. The facility is a requirement in large real-time systems where it may not be possible or economic to stop the entire system to allow modification to part of its hardware or software. The paper introduces a model of the configuration process which permits dynamic, incremental modification and extension. Using this model we determine the properties required by languages and their execution environments to support dynamic configuration. The configuration facilities provided in the Imperial College distributed system CONIC are described and illustrated using an example.
KRAMER J, 1983, DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER-SYSTEMS - 2 VIEWS, LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, Vol: 152, Pages: 84-98, ISSN: 0302-9743
KRAMER J, MAGEE J, SLOMAN M, et al., 1983, CONIC - AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER CONTROL-SYSTEMS, IEE PROC-E, Vol: 130, Pages: 1-10, ISSN: 0143-7062
Kramer J, 1983, Distributed Computer Systems : Two Views, Specification and Design of Software Systems, Editors: Knuth, Neuhold, Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Kramer J, Magee J, Sloman M, 1982, SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE FOR DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER CONTROL SYSTEMS., Pages: 139-146
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- Citations: 1
Kramer J, Goldsack S, 1982, Invariants in the Application-Oriented Specification of Control Systems, Automatica, Vol: 18, Pages: 71-76
GOLDSACK SJ, KRAMER J, 1982, INVARIANTS IN THE APPLICATION-ORIENTED SPECIFICATION OF CONTROL-SYSTEMS, AUTOMATICA, Vol: 18, Pages: 71-76, ISSN: 0005-1098
Kramer J, Magee J, Sloman M, 1981, INTERTASK COMMUNICATION PRIMITIVES FOR DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER CONTROL SYSTEMS., Pages: 404-411
Intertask communication primitives suitable for a distributed process control environment are studied. The communication requirements are identified in terms of two transaction types which are characteristic of process control applications. The requirements for task behavior, robustness and response time are described with respect to these transactions. Existing proposals for communication primitives are examined and found to be wanting. Finally, a set of primitives are proposed which match the requirements more satisfactorily than existing proposals.
Goldsack SJ, Kramer J, 1980, The use of invariants in the application - Oriented specification of real time control systems, Annual Review in Automatic Programming, Vol: 10, Pages: 63-71, ISSN: 0066-4138
The importance of an application-oriented specification as the starting point for the control system design has recently been recognised. As an initial stage of the work of a Special Interest Group on the Application Oriented Specification Hailing and others (1979) presented a review of the problem and some of the approaches to specification in current use. Halling's paper drew attention to two broad classes of control application, referred to as continuous control sytems on the one hand and sequential or discrete variable control systems on the other. Within the category of discrete systems a subclass of systems, where large volumes of data must be handled and real-time data manipulations must be specified, was also recognised. This paper aims to show that emphasis on the invariant properties of system elements can be helpful in presenting a system specification for all these types of systems. © 1982.
Kramer J, Cunningham J, 1979, Invariants for Specifications., Publisher: IEEE Computer Society, Pages: 183-193
Cornea H, Kramer J, Penney B, 1978, A student group project in operating system implementation, Pages: 197-202
A student operating system project is described. It provides students, working in groups of 4 or 5, with some insight into the design and organisation problems of constructing a fairly large and complex piece of software, The students design and implerent the Nucleus of a multiprogramming system which runs under the control of a VM/CMS virtual machine, Aspects of the project structure and its organisation are discussed.
Comaa H, Kramer J, Penney BK, 1978, A student group project in operating system implementation, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol: 10, Pages: 197-202, ISSN: 0097-8418
A student operating system project is described. It provides students, working in groups of 4 or 5, with some insight into the design and organisation problems of constructing a fairly large and complex piece of software. The students design and implement the Nucleus of a multiprogramming system which runs under the control of a VM/CMS virtual machine, Aspects of the project structure and its organisation are discussed. © 1978, ACM. All rights reserved.
Kramer J, Cunningham J, 1978, An Exercise in Program Design Using Simula Class Invariants, Software: Practice and Experience, Vol: 8
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