SHADOW ARRAYS FOR DISTRIBUTED MEMORY MULTIPROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE

Shadow arrays are configured in a distributed memory multiprocessor architecture to localize memory referencing. As each additional processor becomes active a variable array having dimensions 1.times.N, including N single instance variables which must be monitored on a "per processor" basis, is configured in a memory local to the additional processor and made locally referenceable. A patchwork of shadow arrays is thereby established in which each additional processor may reference local memory to access its own value set for the N single instance variables. The single instance formatting of the arrays also advantageously facilitates migration from an single processor operating system to a multiprocessor operating system without substantial recoding.