Introduction

The logic of an application may include actions whose completions are time-constrained. For this discussion, we choose threads as the reference execution entities that perform actions. Any given thread may perform any combination of time-constrained ("real-time") and non-time-constrained ("non-real-time") actions, as explained on the Time Constraint Scopes and Priorities page; real-time research and practice both usually presume the special case that an execution entity (e.g., thread) is either real-time or non-real-time in its entirety.

First we consider deadlines -- the best-known case of time constraints, and yet one that is not well understood in the community of real-time computing practitioners (at least). Then we show how a deadline is a special case of a more general and expressive model of time constraints. Following that, we look at time constraints as a programming construct -- their lexical scoping, and their semantics in comparison to priorities.

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Real-Time:

Real-Time Overview

Time Constraints

Deadlines

Time/Utility Functions

Time Constraints Scopes and Priorities

Sequencing

Sequencing Criteria

Timeliness Optimality

Predictability

Hard and Soft Real-Time

Sequencing Algorithms

Worked Examples

Coastal Air Defense

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