Abstract: Method and apparatus are provided in a shared memory, multi-processor computer system for reducing the time required to run an application program on the processors of the system by reducing the overhead associated with the separation of the program and the initiation of the parallel execution of the tasks. The system has a plurality of processors wherein the application program is separated into different tasks and the tasks are executed in parallel on the processors of the system. The system further includes a process enabling the execution of either opportunistic or queued threads. In the preferred embodiment, the method includes the steps of (a) determining if one of the processors is free to execute a first task, and (b) performing the first task if step (a) determines that none of the processors are free.

Abstract: Method and apparatus are provided for encoding data types to identify the type of object being operated on during execution of a computer program on a data processing system including byte-addressed memory. The object is represented by at least one machine word having a plurality of bits. The method includes the steps of storing an object in the byte-addressed memory so that the lower three bits of the object are in a zero state and setting one of the lower three bits to a non-zero state to indicate a particular data type. Three different types of data can be verified by checking the state of a single bit. In one embodiment of the invention the method further includes the step of setting a second one of the lower three bits to a non-zero state to indicate that the object, such as NIL, is a member of two data types.