A fully automatic compiler for distributed memory machines

A fully automatic compilation method for distributed memory machines is described. It produces an efficient program partition without user intervention. A task based approach is adopted at the intermediate form level allowing a large degree of language and architecture independence. The scheduling phase of the compiler works partially at compile time and partially at run time. At compile time, an infinite number of processors is assumed and the schedule is found by using a new concept of the threshold of a task that quantifies a tradeoff between the schedule-length and the degree of parallelism. At run time, the generated parallel code can be scaled down to match the available processors. This approach is demonstrated by targeting Sisal, a parallel functional language on a iPSC/860 multicomputer