A simple algorithmically reasoned characterization of wait-free computation (extended abstract)

This paper introduces two new novel tools for the study of distributed computing and shows their utility by using them to exhibit a simple derivation of the Herlihy and Shavit characterization of wait-free shared-memory computation. The first tool is the notion of the iterated version of a given model. We show that the topological structure that corresponds to an iterated model has a nice recursive structure, and that the iterated version of the atomic snapshot memory solves any task solvable by the non-iterated model. The second tool is an iterated explicit simple convergence algorithm. In the Ph.D. Thesis oft he first author these tool were used to characterize models more complex than read-write shared-memory.