Visual Software Development for Parallel Machines.
Abstract
If the benefits of parallel processing do not sufficiently exceed the cost to both develop the software and manage the allocation of processor resources during runtime, then commercialization, based upon economics, won't occur. These economic goals will be achieved if: (1) people who understand the problems to be solved can describe them easily and directly to the computer without concern for parallelism, or even prior knowledge of computer programming; and (2) the run-time software is generated automatically to take full effective advantage of the inherent parallelism of the problem on a parallel machine. This Phase I effort shows that optimal allocation of processes to processors can result from an architecture that produces independent modules. When an architect follows PSI's visual design rules, this occurs automatically. Visualization is the result of separating data from instructions, allowing a one-to-one mapping of graphical icons into actual code. An architect can determine critical independence properties of a design just by visual inspection of engineering drawings. By following PSI's design rules, this same visual inspection of the drawings can be used to quickly assess the inherent parallelism of a system.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 20, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA325650
Entities
People
- Henry Ledgard
- Robert Wassmer
- William Cave