Fast interrupt mechanism for interrupting processors in parallel in a multiprocessor system wherein processors are assigned process ID numbers

A fast interrupt mechanism is capable of simultaneously interrupting a community of associated processors in a multiprocessor system. The fast interrupt mechanism enables the more effective debugging of software executing on a multiprocessor system by allowing all of the processors in a community associated with a parallel process to be halted within a limited number of clock cycles following a hardware exception or processor breakpoint. The fast interrupt mechanism consists of a set of registers that are used to identify associations among multiple processors, a comparison matrix that is used to select processors to be interrupted, a network of interconnections that transmit interrupt events to and from the processors, and elements in the processors that create and respond to fast interrupt events.