Increasing numbers of multiprocessor systems and network structures are used to solve problems that have not yet been solvable with sufficient accuracy. Special features are necessary for tools that are used for evaluating the performance of modelling and simulation systems for distributed functions and systems. New principles are necessary for studying those problems and methods that cannot be developed by adaptation or generalization from known methods, algorithms and techniques. Evaluation nets and Petri nets give useful support for the simulation of parallel processes. Finally, the Petri net processor P3 and the simulation of the P3 architecture are introduced. This simulation, a tool for simulating complex distributed functions, has been realized in Modula-2.
