Abstract
Distributed algorithms often cannot be analyzed to give an accurate estimate of performance. ELECTOR, a program written in OCCAM™(a parallel pro gramming language) has been developed to simulate a class of distributed algo rithms, election algorithms. This simula tor and a description of the methods used to design a distributed system simulator are presented. A description of the design of an equivalent simulator on a SIMD machine (the Connection Machine) is then presented. Simulation results from ELECTOR for the performance of three election algorithms are presented. These results show that the performance of election algorithms with similar upper bounds on average number of messages transmitted can be better evaluated by simulation. Results from the second simulator for one of these algorithms confirm the validity of the first results.
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