Decentralized computation

For a decentralized computing system of many computing elements (whether geographically distributed mainframe computers, or miniature computing elements within a single board or even chip), a naturally decentralized model is prerequisite for the organization of computation. This will allow a large number of computer elements to cooperate in the execution of a program. Computational models used in parallel computers (data flow, control flow, and reduction) help to identify the attributes of such a decentralized and general-purpose model. This paper examines data flow, control flow, and reduction models and presents a classification for their underlying concepts. In addition, it describes a computational model called recursive control flow, which is a synthesis of these concepts and which directly supports data flow, control flow, and reduction computation.