This paper considers the problem of performing tasks in asynchronous distributed settings. This problem, called DoAll, has been substantially studied in synchronous models, but there is a dearth of efficient algorithms for asynchronous message-passing processors. Do-All can be trivially solved without any communication by an algorithm where each processor performs all tasks. Assuming p processors and t tasks, this requires work Θ(p · t). Thus it is important to develop subquadratic solutions (when p and t are comparable) by trading computation for communication. Following the observation that it is not possible to obtain subquadratic work when the message delay d is substantial, e.g., d = Θ(t), this work pursues a message-delay-sensitive approach. Here the upper bounds on work and communication are given as functions of p, t, and d, the upper bound on message delays, however algorithms have no knowledge of d and they cannot rely on the existence of an upper bound on d. This paper p...
Dariusz R. Kowalski, Alexander A. Shvartsman