1. A method, in a data processing system, for performing a remote update, the method comprising: detecting, by a remote update programming idiom accelerator of the data processing system, a remote update programming idiom in an instruction sequence of a thread running on a processing unit of the data processing system, wherein the remote update programming idiom includes a read operation for reading data from a storage location at a remote node, at least one update operation for performing an update operation on the data to form result data, and a write operation for writing the result data to the storage location at the remote node; and transmitting the remote update programming idiom from the remote update programming idiom accelerator to the remote node to perform the at least one update operation on the data at the remote node.