Monads-PC

The first Monads-PC was designed, built, microprogrammed and programmed by David Abramson and John Rosenberg in 1984 at Monash University. The name PC is not entirely appropriate; the Monads-PC is in fact a microcoded minicomputer with a performance about equivalent to that of a DEC VAX 11-750. The kernel software was written in an Assembler designed for the system. Higher level software was later written in a language called Monads-Pascal, also designed by John Rosenberg. This language was later modified in various ways. It provides linguistic support for persistent programming, for module capabilities, for a uniform view of modules and for concurrent programming. There has been a continuous development of higher level software for the Monads-PC by various members of the project.

Several Monads-PC systems have been built. Until recently most of these were at the University of Ulm and they were used for student projects.

Rosenberg, J. and Abramson, D.A. "MONADS-PC: A Capability Based Workstation to Support Software Engineering", in Proc. 18th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, pp. 515-522, 1985.

Abramson, D.A. and Rosenberg, J. "Supporting a Capability Based Architecture in Silicon", in Proc. 4th Microelectronics Conference, pp. 43-50, 1985.

Abramson, D.A. and Rosenberg, J. "A Vertical User Interface to Horizontal Microcode via a Retargetable Microassembler", in Proc. 8th Australian Computer Science Conference Melbourne, pp. 8/1-8/12, 1985.

Rosenberg, J. and Keedy, J.L. "Object Management and Addressing in the MONADS Architecture", Proc. International Workshop on Persistent Object Systems, Appin, Scotland, 1987.

Brössler, P. and Freisleben, B. "Transactions on Persistent Objects", in Proc. International Workshop on Persistent Object Systems, pp. 19-35, 1989.

Keedy, J.L. and Freisleben, B. "Priority Semaphores", The Computer Journal, 32, 1, 1989, pp. 24-28.

Keedy, J.L. and Rosenberg, J. "Support for Objects in the MONADS Architecture", Proc. International Workshop on Persistent Object Systems, Newcastle, Australia, Springer Verlag, 1990, pp. 392-405.

Brössler, P. and Rosenberg, J. "Transactions in a Segmented Single Level Store Architecture", in Proc. International Workshop on Computer Architectures to Support Security and Persistence of Information, Springer-Verlag, pp. 319-338, 1990.

Evered, M. and Keedy, J.L. "A Model for Protection in Object-Oriented Systems", Proc. International Workshop on Computer Architectures to Support Security and Persistence of Information, Springer Verlag, 1990, pp. 67-82.

Freisleben, B., Kammerer, P. and Keedy, J.L. "Capabilities and Encryption: The Ultimate Defence Against Security Attacks?", in Proc. International Workshop on Computer Architectures to Support Security and Persistence of Information, pp. 106-119, 1990.

Rosenberg, J., Henskens, F.A., Brown, A.L., Morrison, R. and Munro, D. "Stability in a Persistent Store Based on a Large Virtual Memory", in Proc. International Workshop on Computer Architectures to Support Security and Persistence of Information, Springer-Verlag, pp. 229-245, 1990.

Rosenberg, J. "Architectural Support for Persistent Object Systems", in Proc. International Workshop on Object Orientation in Operating Systems, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 48-60, 1991.

Keedy, J. L. and Vosseberg, K. "Persistent Protected Modules and Persistent Processes as the Basis for a More Secure Operating System", in Proc. 25th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 1992.

Keedy, J. L. and Vosseberg, K. "Security in a Persistent Distributed Operating System", in Proc. 12th GI/ITG-Conference: "Architektur von Rechensystemen", 1992, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel.

Rosenberg, J., Keedy, J.L. and Abramson D.A. "Addressing Mechanisms for Large Virtual Memories", The Computer Journal, 35, 4, 1992, pp.369-375.

Keedy, J. L., & Brössler, P. "Implementing Databases in the MONADS Virtual Memory", in Proc. Fifth International Workshop on Persistent Object Systems, Design Implementation and Use, 1992, pp. 319-331.

Keedy, J.L. "A Model for Security and Protection in Persistent Systems", Microprocessors and Microsystems, 17, 3, 1993, pp.139-146.

Vosseberg, K., Brössler, P., & Keedy, J. L. "A Base for Secure Operating System Environments", in Proc. Workshop on Security in Operating Systems, OOPSLA 1993, 1993.

Dunstan, N., Keedy, J.L. and Rosenberg, J. "Support for Concurrent Programming on the MONADS-PC", Australian Computer Journal, 25, 1, 1993, pp. 1-6.