Language OCCAM

Microprocessors (transputers), with the help of a special language (Occam), can handle flows of information in a parallel fashion instead of sequentially (serially), thereby greatly increasing the speed of operation. Transputers also control the flow of information by communicating with each other. 

A special computer language (Occam) is needed to enable transputers to be programmed in this cooperative mode, yielding true parallel processing of information with all its advantages in speed. 

Wedig, Burkhardt, and von Schnering reported the use of the native programming language Occam for Transputer network applications in computa-... 

The programming language occam, which is derived from the theory of communicating sequential processes provides a good notation in which to pursue the design of distributed systems. Occam produces concise,... 

Although Occam is very close to being the machine language of the INMOS Transputer, it has not been widely used except on machines based on transputers (e.g., Meiko CS-1, Parsytec, Telmat). In the 1980s, many transputer-based machines were purchased or built by research groups as a (then) very cost-effective source of computer cycles. 

Almost all groups that once developed code for occam have now switched to other languages. Moreover, occam never made the transition to other machines, and new versions of the Transputer have consistently lagged projected delivery dates. 

K. C. Bowler, R. D. Kenway, G. S. Pawley, and D, Roweth, Occam 2 Programming Language, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1984. 

The term reaction mechanism is part of the everyday language of chemists, yet it conveys different things to different people. The IUPAC Gold book (www.goldbook.iupac.org) defines the mechanism of a reaction as A detailed description of the process leading from the reactants to the products of a reaction, including a characterization as complete as possible of the composition, structure, energy and other properties of reaction intermediates, products and transition states. An acceptable mechanism of a specified reaction (and there may be a number of such alternative mechanisms not excluded by the evidence) must be consistent with the reaction stoichiometry, the rate law and with all other available experimental data, such as the stereochemical course of the reaction. On the basis of Occam s razor (Section 3.7.4), one should always choose the simplest mechanism that is consistent with all available evidence. 

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