Emulating Digital Logic using Transputer Networks (Very High Parallelism = Simplicity = Performance)

Modern VLSI technology has changed the economic rules by which the balance between processing

power, memory and communications is decided in computing systems. This will have a profound

impact on the design rules for the controlling software. In particular, the criteria for judging efficiency

of the algorithms will be somewhat different. This paper explores some of these implications through

the development of highly parallel and highly distributable algorithms based on occam and transputer

networks. The major results reported are a new simplicity for software designs, a corresponding ability

to reason (formally and informally) about their properties, the reusability of their components and some

real performance figures which demonstrate their practicality. Some guidelines to assist in these designs

are also given. As a vehicle for discussion, an interactive simulator is developed for checking the

functional and timing characteristics of digital logic circuits of arbitrary complexity.