Abstract: A parallel program development and processing system includes a parallel program development section and a parallel program execution section. The parallel program development section allows a program developer to develop programs for execution by a parallel computer system using a predetermined set of components which can be selected by the program developer, using a graphical user interface, and linked in a dataflow graph that represents the order of operations to be performed by the program on the data to be processed. After the program developer has developed the graph, the parallel program development section generates executable program code from the instances of the components and their interconnections, for execution by a parallel computer. In the executable program code, instances of the components selected by the program developer form executable objects which are executed by the parallel computer under control of a run-time system that includes an execution control object.