A shared-memory execution model for parallel functional programming

Functional languages have received more interest recently and particularly for programming parallel computers. Traditionally, functional languages were developed simultaneously with the design of new architectures such as data flow and reduction machine. The authors present a general execution model to support a parallel functional language called SISAL (stream and iteration in a single assignment language), (J. McGraw et al., 1985), on shared-memory multiprocessors. The implementation is examined on two radically different architectures, i.e., a 4-way Cray X-MP and a 32-way (symmetrical) Vax Research Multiprocessor M31. SISAL was derived primarily from the data flow language VAL (W.B. Ackermann et al., 1979), but unlike VAL, it is developed for conventional sequential machines and varieties of parallel machines for the study of functional languages.<>