Programming a real code in a functional language (part 1)
For some, functional languages hold the promise of allowing ease of programming massively parallel computers that imperative languages such as Fortran and C do not offer. At LLNL, we have initiated a project to write the physics of a major production code in Sisal, a functional language developed at LLNL in collaboration with researchers throughout the world. We are investigating the expressibility of Sisal, as well as its performance on a shared-memory multiprocessor, the Y-MP. An interesting aspect of the project is that Sisal modules can call Fortran modules, and are callable by them. This eliminates the rewriting of 80% of the production code that would not benefit from parallel execution. Preliminary results indicate that the restrictive nature of the language does not cause problems in expressing the algorithms we have chosen. Some interesting aspects of programming in a mixed functional-imperative environment have surfaced, but can be managed. 8 refs.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 5094009
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-108326; CONF-9109276-4; ON: DE92001895
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Visions of supercomputing conference, Santa Fe, NM (United States), 23-27 Sep 1991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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