Leveraging Sequential Computation for Programming Efficient and Reliable Distributed Systems

While sequential programs represent a simple and natural form for expressing functionality, corresponding distributed implementations get considerably more complex. We examine the possibility of using the sequential computation model for programming distributed systems and requirements for making that possible. The benefits of such an approach include easier specification and reasoning about behaviors in the system, as well as a possibility to directly reuse existing techniques for checking correctness and optimization of sequential programs to produce efficient and reliable distributed implementations.