Task Scheduling in Parallel and Distributed Systems

El-Rewini and Lewis were among the first researchers to recognize the problem of resource allocation (scheduling) inherent in parallel and distributed programs - those which consist of interacting tasks, each capable of running on a separate processor. Without proper allocation and ordering of tasks, the parallel and distributed program will not deliver improvements beyond that of a serial program. Until now, much of the literature on this problem has been hidden in obscure research journals. This single-source reference addresses the resource allocation problem in all of its variations, and surveys the most important scheduling techniques that have been proposed over the past decade.