Bridging model

In computer science, a bridging model is an abstract model of a computer which provides a conceptual bridge between the physical implementation of the machine and the abstraction available to a programmer of that machine; in other words, it is intended to provide a common level of understanding between hardware and software engineers.
A successful bridging model is one which can be efficiently implemented in reality and efficiently targeted by programmers; in particular, it should be possible for a compiler to produce good code from a typical high-level language. The term was introduced by Leslie Valiant's 1990 paper "A Bridging Model for Parallel Computation", which argued that the strength of the von Neumann model was largely responsible for the success of computing as a whole. The paper goes on to develop the bulk synchronous parallel model as an analogous model for parallel computing.