THREADED-C: Where is it coming from? Where is it going?
For the last few years, THREADED-C has been used for programming the
EARTH multi-threaded parallel machine. The THREADED-C language can be
seen as a direct interface to the EARTH architecture model. This
means that a lot of low-level details have to be taken care of when
writing THREADED-C programs. Although this situation has been
somewhat alleviated with the version 1.1 of the portable THREADED-C
compiler, which allows for symbolic thread names, THREADED-C still
remains a low-level parallel programming language.
In this talk, we take a look at the past evolution of THREADED-C and
look at some of its weaknesses, including the fact that in its current
form, it enocurages a patholocical form of coupling between
fibers. We also suggest some possible directions for its future
evolution. Our conclusion it that some higher-level abstractions have
to be introduced in the languages. Of course, a remaining question is
just how much higher-level.
To get the slides