NPAC Technical Report SCCS-640

A Domain-Specific Parallel Programming System. I: Design and Application to Ecological Modelling

Elaine Wenderholm, Micah Beck

Submitted September 1 1994


Abstract

The goal of the Em project is to make parallel programming easily accessible to a broad community of scientists. Previous approaches such as the use of general parallel programming languages and parallelizing compilers for sequential languages have fallen short in this respect. The approach is to design a special purpose programming language which is oriented towards a specific area of application. The result is a specialized and effective scientific tool. Em is a high-level programming system which puts parallelism into the hands of scientists who are not sophisticated programmers. By restricting and simplifying the programming interface, Em eases both the conceptual task of the programmer and the analytical task of the compiler. The model of success is the financial spreadsheet, a specialized tool which makes programmers out of relatively naive end-users and makes computer technology broadly accessible to business. Here the initial prototype is described, motivated by practical ecological modelling problems.


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