Content area

Abstract

This work is a continuation of efforts to define and understand competitive analysis of algorithms in a distributed shared memory setting, which is surprisingly different from the classical online setting. In fact, in a distributed shared memory setting, we find a counter-example to the theorem concerning classical randomized online algorithms which shows that, if there is a \(c\)-competitive randomized algorithm against an adaptive offline adversary, then there is a \(c\)-competitive deterministic algorithm [Ben-David, Borodin, Karp, Tardos, Wigderson, 1994]. In a distributed setting, there is additional lack of knowledge concerning what the other processes have done. There is also additional power for the adversary, having control of the scheduler which decides when each process is allowed to take steps. We consider the list accessing problem, which is a benchmark problem for sequential online algorithms. In the distributed version of this problem, each process has its own finite sequence of requests to a shared list. The scheduler arises as a major issue in its competitive analysis. We introduce two different adversaries, which differ in how they are allowed to schedule processes, and use them to perform competitive analysis of distributed list accessing. We prove tight upper and lower bounds on combinatorial properties of merges of the request sequences, which we use in the analysis. Our analysis shows that the effects of the adversarial scheduler can be quite significant, dominating the usual quality loss due to lack of information about the future.

Details

1009240
Title
The Scheduler is Very Powerful in Competitive Analysis of Distributed List Accessing
Publication title
arXiv.org; Ithaca
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Jul 18, 2018
Section
Computer Science
Publisher
Cornell University Library, arXiv.org
Source
arXiv.org
Place of publication
Ithaca
Country of publication
United States
University/institution
Cornell University Library arXiv.org
e-ISSN
2331-8422
Source type
Working Paper
Language of publication
English
Document type
Working Paper
Publication history
 
 
Online publication date
2018-07-19
Milestone dates
2018-07-18 (Submission v1)
Publication history
 
 
   First posting date
19 Jul 2018
ProQuest document ID
2092798963
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/working-papers/scheduler-is-very-powerful-competitive-analysis/docview/2092798963/se-2?accountid=208611
Full text outside of ProQuest
Copyright
© 2018. This work is published under http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.
Last updated
2019-04-18
Database
ProQuest One Academic