Automatic mapping of ASSIST applications using process algebra

One of the most promising technical innovations in present-day computing is the invention of grid technologies which harness the computational power of widely distributed collections of computers. However, the programming and optimisation burden of a low level approach to grid computing is clearly unacceptable for large scale, complex applications. The development of grid applications can be simplified by using high-level programming environments. In the present work, we address the problem of the mapping of a high-level grid application onto the computational resources. In order to optimise the mapping of the application, we propose to automatically generate performance models from the application using the process algebra PEPA. We target applications written with the high-level environment ASSIST, since the use of such a structured environment allows us to automate the study of the application more effectively. Our methodology is presented through an example of a classical Divide&Conquer algorithm, together with results which demonstrate the efficiency of this approach.