Large Persistent Memory

From PEL Wiki

Right now I am just gathering a list of papers on Large Persistent Memory, and include some brief notes about each paper. I also have a list of things to think about. I also have a list of research questions that can apply to Chris' Dissertation Ideas.

Definitions

Persistent Memory - A non-volatile memory. This will not lose data if power is lost.

Persistent Programming - Data/Objects live longer than the process that created them. This is usually accomplished by abstracting away the storage system.

Papers

I divided the papers I found into the following categories:

• OS Support for Persistent Memory
• Persistent Memory Hardware
• Persistent Programming
• Transactional Memory
• NVRAM and File Systems

Things to Think About

• Do we need a data type for non-persistent memory?
  • Use garbage collection/delete.
• MRAM and its capabilities.
• Stability--recovery after a crash.
  • What do we have to worry about when a system with persistent memory crashes?
  • What state information to we have to save?
  • What needs to be done to protect programs when their data has become corrupted?

• What is the difference between J2EE and .NET and persistent programming?
  • Is J2EE just an implementation of persistent programming ideas?

• How is Persistent Programming different than Persistent Memory?
  • Persistent Programming just abstracts away the permanent storage system (file system or database).
  • Will persistent memory support persistent programming without any additional mechanisms?
    • Persistent memory will not support multiple process accessing the same object unless both processes access the object in the exact same way
      • Objects themselves are not abstracted by persistent memory alone.
      • Persistent Programming often abstracts the objects so that different applications can access and modify the object without any knowledge of how they are stored in memory.