WebHPL is a hybrid Compiled/Interpreted environment with a more or less seamless use interface. |
We use compilers or optimized message passing in the local environments where low latency hardware benefits from careful optimization. |
We use interpreters where flexibility and power (e.g. fault tolerance) of agent approach beneficial and performance overhead in software matches intrinsic lower performance of hardware. |
We expect that our two-prong approach in WebHPL, attacking the problem both from the full compiler and the full interpreter perspective, will result in an interesting software engineering framework, 'scalable' along the compiler<--->interpreter axis. |
The interpolation mechanism along this axis is provided in terms of domain specific "little languages" that are interpreted but operate on compiled modules. UNIX shell, Perl or Tcl are examples of sequential little languages. WebHPL will develop parallel analogs. |