FROM BSP TO A VIRTUAL VON-NEUMANN MACHINE

Bulk synchronous parallel architecture incorporates a scalable and tra nsparent communication model, The task-level synchronisation mechanism of the machine, however, is not transparent to the user and can be in efficient when applied to the co-ordination of irregular parallelism. This article presents a discussion of an alternative memory-level sche me which offers the prospect of achieving both efficient and transpare nt synchronisation, The scheme, based on a discrete event simulation p aradigm, supports sequential style of programming and, coupled with th e BSP communication model, leads to the emergence of a virtual von Neu mann parallel computer.