Constructing generic data-farm templates

The data-farm template is a software component for the Pipelined Processor Farm (PPF) software architecture. The PPF data-farm template is a exible, semi-manual method of prototyping continuous-ow applications. The template design originates in a set of abstract design principles. The PPF template is instrumented to provide either support for logic debugging at an intermediate development level on a network of workstations (NOW) or performance tuning on a target multicomputer. General imple-mentational problems arise. The paper demonstrates the feasibility of implementing the design on a Unix-based NOW. Suucient detail is included to guide other implementations and to make comparison between thread packages. Descriptions of two target system implementations follow.