A structured design technique for distributed programs

A non-formal motivation and description is given of ADL-d, a graphical design technique for parallel and distributed software. ADL-d allows a developer to construct an application in terms of communicating processes. The technique distinguishes itself from others by its rigid orthogonal approach to communication modeling, which is advantageous in many areas. Without being committed to one particular design method, ADL-d as a technique can be used from the early phases of application design through phases that concentrate on algorithmic design, and final implementation on some target platform. The authors discuss and motivate all ADL-d components, including recently incorporated features such as support for connection-oriented communication, and support for modeling dynamically changing communication structures.