Real-Time Mentat(ID:1517/rea006)

An extension of C++.  

Structures:
Related languages
Mentat => Real-Time Mentat   Extension of
References:
  • Grimshaw A.S. et al, "Real-Time Mentat: A Data-Driven Object-Oriented System", Proc IEEE Globecom, Nov 1989 pp.232-241. view details
  • Grimshaw, A.S. et al. "Real Time MENTAT Programming Language and Architecture" Proceedings of GLOBECOM'94, 1994 view details
  • Singhal, Amit "Real Time Systems: A Survey" Computer Science Department University of Rochester December 4, 1996 view details External link: Online at Citeseer Abstract: What are real­time systems? Instead of trying to define them, we can think of real time systems as those that react to external stimuli in a timely and  reliable fashion. Real time systems are often used to solve real world problems.  Some examples of real time systems include air traffic control, automatic pilots,  unmanned robots etc.

    Current research in real time systems lags far behind that in other areas. This is due to a largely false notion of what real time systems are and what  they involve. I begin this survey by describing some of the characteristics of  real time systems. Then I will dispel some of the misconceptions and make an  argument for the importance of further research in the area. Next I will present  some formal methods for specifying and verifying real time systems.

    Most of the current real time systems have been written in conventional programming languages which are not very suitable for the task and do not  provide control over timing constraints. Most of the real time languages that  have been developed have found limited use (mostly in the labs where they  were designed) and have not been embraced widely by the real time developers  community. I will deal with this issue at length and present an overview of  what real time languages are and where the current research stands.

    Next I will present some design methodologies and techniques used in designing and developing real time systems. Some of these have good formal and mathematical backgrounds while others originate from rules of thumb.  One of the most active areas of research in real time systems has been  scheduling algorithms. I will present some models of scheduling algorithms and  compare them with respect to their adherence to real time principles. In the  last part of this survey, I will present some of the hardware and architectural  issues facing real time system developers and also provide some information on  how operating systems need to be geared to support real time tasks.  Finally, I will present some of the future directions for research in real time  systems and some of the challenges faced by the researchers today.
    Extract: RTM
    Real Time MENTAT simplifies the task of programming parallel real time applications. It includes a very high level data flow language that maps to an extended  version of C++. One of the major features is that processes (called actors in RTM) can maintain their state between executions. There is also a specification for a visual user interface to manipulate the data flow graph used for writing RTM programs. RTM also has formal language constructs for soft real time programming.