Abstract: Methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable media for implementing and executing computer processes in an efficient manner. In an apparatus embodiment of the present invention, a pinball virtual machine (PVM) (99) is adapted to implement multiple PVM atomic threads (1040) within a single instance of an execution of a single method within an executable software process, said PVM (99) comprising: a code transformer (100) adapted to transform executable computer code (107) to PVM atoms (1020), a PVM graph (102), and PVM code segments (104); and coupled to the PVM graph (102), a PVM atomic threads manager (1011) implemented to control execution of a plurality of PVM atoms (1020) organized in PVM atomic threads (1040).

Abstract: A computer system capable of a degree of fault tolerance is disclosed wherein a target software process is split into two instances, an advanced software process and a trailing software process. The advanced process runs ahead of the trailing process. Failure recognizing mechanisms are provided for detecting failure events experienced by the advanced instance of the process. If a failure is detected, fault-finding mechanisms are activated for identifying a position of a fault and attempting to fix the fault that led to the failure within the advanced process. After the advanced process successfully re-processes the previously failing part of its execution, the trailing software process is allowed to advance.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for the analysis of a computer process is disclosed. The method consists of the steps of analyzing a target process and constructing a model and repository which are representative of the control and non-control components contained within the original target process respectively. The resultant model and repository are executed, and their execution is representative of the original target process. Structures created during the execution of the model and repository assist a user to identify failures which occur during the execution, and then locate the fault(s) responsible for the failures as well as places within the target process where modifications due to new requirements are needed. An alternative form of object code is proposed which consists of two components, control and non-control components.