HERMES LANGUAGE EXPERIENCES

We recount and examine experiences with Hermes, an experimental langua ge for programming distributed systems, Hermes has several unusual lan guage features, including compile-time checking of data initialization , representation independent data aggregates, and an integrated proces s model. To facilitate compile-time initialization checking, Hermes st ores data in tables and does not expose pointers, We study these featu res in light of the experiences of Hermes users around the world, anal yzing the strengths and weaknesses of the language.