Tech Report CS-92-10

Interactive Animation of Fault-Tolerant Parallel Algorithms

Scott W. Apgar

February 1992

Abstract:

Animation of algorithms makes understanding them intuitively easier. This paper describes the software tool Raft (Robust Animator of Fault-Tolerant Algorithms). The Raft system allows the user to animate a number of parallel algorithms that achieve fault-tolerant execution. In particular, we use it to illustrate the key WRITE-ALL problem. It has an extensive user interface which allows a choice of the number of processors, the number of elements in the WRITE-ALL array and the adversary to control the processor failures. The novelty of the system is that the interface allows the user to create new online adversaries as the algorithm executes.

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