BIB-VERSION:: CS-TR-v2.0
ID:: ORSTCS//1992R-ORSTCS-92-60-20
ENTRY:: August 24, 1994
ORGANIZATION:: Oregon State University, Department of Computer Science
TITLE:: Variables and Parameters as References and Containers
TYPE:: Technical Report
AUTHOR:: Crowl, Lawrence A.
CONTACT:: crowl@cs.orst.edu
DATE:: November 1992
PAGES:: 15
COPYRIGHT:: Copyright for the report (c) 1992, by L. A. Crowl. All
rights reserved.  Permission is granted for an academic use of the
report.
RETRIEVAL:: http://www.cs.orst.edu/techpub/reports/1992/1992R-ORSTCS-92-60-20/
RETRIEVAL:: ftp://ftp.cs.orst.edu/techpub/reports/1992/1992R-ORSTCS-92-60-20/fulltext.ps.gz
ABSTRACT:: Most designers of object-based languages adopt a reference
model of variables without explicit justification, despite its wide
ranging consequences.  This paper argues that the traditional
container model of variables is more efficient than the reference
model, nearly as flexible, and more appropriate to parallel and
distributed systems.  The topics addressed are object lifetime and
its implications for storage management, dynamic typing and its
implications for object representation, aliasing and its implications
for interference between operations, parameter passing and its
implications for communication, and sharing and its implications
for contention.  We present our experience with the container model
in a prototype parallel language. Neither model is always better
than the other, and the choice of model should not be left to
default.
END:: ORSTCS//1992R-ORSTCS-92-60-20