An IUA application consists of several cooperating processes running on the various elements in the IUA environment. The software view of an IUA system is depicted above. An IUA consists of several processors, memories, and devices.
The IUA software environment is a collection of tools and libraries that allow programmers to build applications using the IUA without necessarily concerning themselves with the details of the IUA hardware. The environment supports different levels of abstraction to offer the programmer choices between convenience and efficiency.
At the highest levels, programmers can use abstractions provided by the IUA Class Library.
Programs control the CAAPP hardware under ACU software or the ICAP hardware under ICAP software. At the lowest level are libraries that provide direct access to the hardware. Tying it all together is a common communications system.
An IUA may also contain other attached processors (AP) which the user may also program.