FORGE 90: a parallel programming environment

The author discusses some of the problems facing current compiler technology, and suggests several possible new approaches. He points out that it is now possible to automatically translate a portable Fortran program into forms that efficiently utilize a vector processor, a shared memory or a distributed memory parallel processor-either SIMD (single instruction, multiple data) or MIMD (multiple instruction, multiple data). This capability is now being demonstrated within the interactive parallel programming environment FORGE 90. FORGE 90s database permits it to parallelize DO loops containing calls to other routines. FORGE 90 can perform the necessary analysis for determining if the loop can be parallelized because it has all the information about called routines that it needs in the database. This gives FORGE 90 the ability to analyze the highest level DO loops in the program.<>