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A concurrent programming language is defined as one which uses the concept of simultaneously executing processes or threads of execution as a means of structuring a program. A parallel language is able to express programs that are executable on more than one processor.
In non-interactive execution (batch processing), a task is a unit of execution within a job, [1] [2] with the task itself typically a process. The term "multitasking" primarily refers to the processing sense – multiple tasks executing at the same time – but has nuances of the work sense of multiple tasks being performed at the same time.
In order to ensure high-speed processing, batch applications are often integrated with grid computing solutions to partition a batch job over a large number of processors, although there are significant programming challenges in doing so. High volume batch processing places particularly heavy demands on system and application architectures as well.
Examples follow. At the programming language level: Channel; Coroutine; Futures and promises; At the operating system level: Computer multitasking, including both cooperative multitasking and preemptive multitasking. Time-sharing, which replaced sequential batch processing of jobs with concurrent use of a system; Process; Thread
The Bull Gamma 60, initially designed in 1957 and first released in 1960, was the first computer designed with multiprogramming in mind. Its architecture featured a central memory and a Program Distributor feeding up to twenty-five autonomous processing units with code and data, and allowing concurrent operation of multiple clusters.
Declarative programming – describes what computation should perform, without specifying detailed state changes c.f. imperative programming (functional and logic programming are major subgroups of declarative programming) Distributed programming – have support for multiple autonomous computers that communicate via computer networks
Newer batch processing software and methodologies, including batch operating systems such as IBSYS (1960), decreased these "dead periods" by queuing up programs ready to run. [4] Comparatively inexpensive card punch or paper tape writers were used by programmers to write their programs "offline". Programs were submitted to the operations team ...
Other authors prefer to refer to the operating system techniques as multiprogramming and reserve the term multiprocessing for the hardware aspect of having more than one processor. [2] [8] The remainder of this article discusses multiprocessing only in this hardware sense. In Flynn's taxonomy, multiprocessors as defined above are MIMD machines.