Abstract
Logical (scalar, vector or matrix) clocks are a powerful mechanism used by a lot of distributed algorithms. This paper is on vector clocks: it surveys their main features and is particularly focused on their power and their limitation. In that sense, this paper complements [5, 6] and may be seen as a critical and practical introduction to vector clocks.
The paper is divided into four main sections. Section 2 introduces a model for distributed executions. Section 3 describes vector clocks and their basic properties. Vector clocks are a simple mechanism that allows processes to track causality between the events they produce. Then, Section 4 and Section 5 study two problems related to causality. The first problem consists in detecting a conjunction of stable local predicates. The second problem consists in recognizing the occurrence of a very simple event pattern. It is shown that simple vector clocks are insufficient to solve the second problem which, actually, requires more sophisticated clocks, namely, vector of vector clocks. So, this paper exhibits a frontier between problems that can be solved using simple vector clocks and problems requiring more sophisticated vector clock systems.
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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Raynal, M. (1999). Illustrating the Use of Vector Clocks in Property Detection: An Example and a Counter-Example. In: Amestoy, P., et al. Euro-Par’99 Parallel Processing. Euro-Par 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1685. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48311-X_114
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48311-X_114
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