This paper explores the notion of an atomic  action  as a method of process structuring. This notion, first introduced explicitly by Eswaren et al [6] in the context of data base systems, reduces the problem of coping with many processes to that of coping with a single process within the atomic  action . A form of process synchronization, the  await  statement, is adapted to work naturally with atomic actions. System recovery is also considered and we show how atomic actions can be used to isolate recovery action to a single process. Explicit control of recovery is provided by a  reset  procedure that permits information from rejected control paths to be passed to subsequent alternative paths.
['David Lomet']
Process structuring, synchronization, and recovery using atomic actions