Abstract: The parallel virtual directory system can extend the native file system to provide a superior method for organizing a computer system's physical storage devices or locations. These can include hard disks and removable media or remote storage locations such as on the Internet. Interceptor modules can monitor all file or memory changes such as creations, writes and deletes to the native file system and can pass this information to the parallel virtual directory system. The parallel virtual directory system may be accessed through the native fie system methods allowing users to view their file system as it existed at any point in time, including removable media that is no longer present in the system. Further, via the parallel virtual directory system and the Interceptor modules, users can access any file in any of the monitored file systems.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for passing runtime contexts between threads in a multithreading application is provided. A precompiler is provided which allows programmers to declare and use runtime contexts in the same manner as other conventional variable types are declared and used. Special syntax and routines are provided for explicitly allocating a runtime context and deallocating a runtime context, thus decoupling the duration of a runtime context from the duration of the thread that initiated the operations whose states are stored in the runtime context. Consequently, operations started by a thread that terminates may be continued by a subsequent thread without having to re-perform previously executed operations. Precompiler directives are provided to explicitly state which runtime contexts will be used for certain operations. A single thread can therefore use one or more runtime contexts.