Trustworthy Systems

The von Neumann architecture is due for retirement

Authors

Aleksander Budzynowski and Gernot Heiser

NICTA

UNSW

Abstract

The processor industry has reached the point where sequential improvements have plateaued and we are being flooded with parallel hardware we don’t know how to utilise. An efficient, general-purpose and easy-to-use parallel model is urgently needed to replace the von Neumann model. We introduce and discuss the self-modifying dataflow graph, an unusual model of computation which combines the naturally parallel dataflow model with local graph transformations to eliminate the need for a global memory. We justify why it is a promising candidate.

BibTeX Entry

  @inproceedings{Budzynowski_Heiser_13,
    address          = {Santa Ana Pueblo, NM, USA},
    author           = {Budzynowski, Aleksander and Heiser, Gernot},
    booktitle        = {Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems (HotOS)},
    keywords         = {parallel programming, self-modifying dataflow graph},
    month            = may,
    pages            = {6},
    paperurl         = {https://trustworthy.systems/publications/nicta_full_text/6828.pdf},
    publisher        = {USENIX},
    slides           = {https://trustworthy.systems/publications/nicta_slides/6828.pdf},
    title            = {The {von Neumann} architecture is due for retirement},
    year             = {2013}
  }

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