Constructing Distributed UNIX Utilities in REGIS

Regis is an environment for constructing distributed programs and systems. A characteristic of Regis programs is separation of structure from algorithm, often referred to as the `software integrated circuit' approach to program construction. Programs consist of components connected by links. Components are of two types: they may be primitive, or composed from other components. Primitive components in Regis are single-threaded C++ objects and their compositions are described in the structural language Darwin. A variety of communication objects and paradigms is supported. This paper provides a brief introduction to writing Regis programs followed by a detailed description of the design of a Real Program (Red) with particular emphasis on the advantages of the Regis approach. 1 Introduction Regis [1] is an environment for constructing distributed programs and open systems running on a network of sun-4 workstations. 1 It is based on experience gained by the Distributed Software Engi..