Orthogonal parallel processing in vector pascal

Cockshott, W.P. and Michaelson, G.J. (2006) Orthogonal parallel processing in vector pascal. Computer Languages, Systems and Structures, 32(1), pp. 2-41. (doi: 10.1016/j.cl.2004.07.001)

Abstract

Despite the widespread adoption of parallel operations in contemporary CPU designs, their use has been restricted by a lack of appropriate programming language abstractions and development environments. To fully exploit the SIMD model of computation such operations offer, programmers depend on CPU specific machine code or implementation dependent libraries. Vector Pascal is a language designed to enable the elegant and efficient expression of SIMD algorithms. It imports into Pascal abstraction mechanisms derived from functional languages, in turn having their origins in APL. In particular, it extends all operators to work on vectors of data. The type system is also extended to handle pixels and dimensional analysis. Code generation is via the ILCG system that allows retargeting to multiple different SIMD instruction sets based on formalised descriptions of the instruction set semantics.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Pascal; Parallelism; SIMD; Image processing; Vector processing; Data parallel.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cockshott, Dr William
• Authors: Cockshott, W.P., and Michaelson, G.J.
• Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• Journal Name: Computer Languages, Systems and Structures
• ISSN: 1477-8424
• ISSN (Online): 1873-6866
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2006 Elsevier
• First Published: First published in Computer Languages, Systems and Structures 32(1):2-41
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.