Using a functional language and graph reduction to program multiprocessor machines or functional control of imperative programs

Abstract

Journal ArticleThis paper describes an effective means for programming shared memory multiprocessors whereby a set of sequential activities are linked together for execution in parallel. The glue for this linkage is provided by a functional language implemented via graph reduction and demand evaluation. The full power of functional programming is used to obtain succinct, high level specifications of parallel computations. The imperative procedures that constitute the sequential activities facilitate efficient utilization of individual processing elements, while the mechanisms inherent in graph reduction synchronize and schedule these activities. The main contributions of this paper are: 1) an evaluation of the performance implications of parallel graph reduction; 2) a demonstration that the mechanisms of graph reduction can obtain multiprocessor performance uniformly surpassing the best uni-processor implementation of sequential algorithms running on a single node of the same machine, and 3) an illustration of our method used to program a real world fluid flow simulation problem