Parallelization of the Application Program

While machines like Teradata and Gamma separate the application
program running on a host processor from the database software
running on the parallel processor, both the Tandem and Bubba systems
use the same processors for both application programs and the parallel
database software. This arrangement has the disadvantage of requiring a
complete, full-function operating system on the parallel processor, but it
avoids any potential load imbalance between the two systems and allows
parallel applications. Missing, however, are tools that would allow the 
application programs themselves to take advantage of the inherent
underlying parallelism of these integrated parallel systems. While automatic
parallelization of applications programs written in Cobol may not be
feasible, library packages to facilitate explicitly parallel application programs
are needed. Support for the SQL3 NOWAIT option in which the application
can launch several SQL statements at once would be an advance. Ideally the
SPLIT and MERGE operators could be packaged so that applications
could benefit from them.