The analytic design of a dynamic look ahead and program segmenting system for multiprogrammed computers

• Authors: C. V. Ramamoorthy
• Venue: ACM '66 Proceedings of the 1966 21st national conference
• Year: 1966

Since the computer operation when viewed as the execution of subroutines or instructions or logical subcommands is a discrete sequential process, its action or behavior can be predicted to a degree of certainty when sufficient knowledge is available about the structure of its information flow. Conventionally, the “look-ahead” function implies fetching the next set of instructions and their associated data and preparing ahead of time for their execution. We shall, however, broaden the concept to the anticipation of the next “event” of a specified type whether it is a functional subroutine, instruction or an input-output function. In some sense, one can consider “looking-ahead” as the anticipatory simulation of important events in the execution sequence. By anticipating the most probable events, their requirements can be preplanned and furnished, if possible, without stalling the program, e.g., by alerting I/O units, by providing memory space for the next set of subroutines to be executed, etc. This is particularly important in a multi-programmed, multi-processor environment