Title:

Allocation and Manipulation of Records in the NON-VON Supercomputer

Author(s):

Shaw, David Elliot
Hillyer, Bruce K.

Date:

1983

Type:

Technical reports

Department:

Computer Science

Permanent URL:

http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:11625

Series:

Columbia University Computer Science Technical Reports

Part Number:

CUCS-221-83

Publisher:

Department of Computer Science, Columbia University

Publisher Location:

New York

Abstract:

NON-VON is a highly parallel supercomputer, portions of which are now under construction at Columbia University. A full-scale NON-VON prototype might comprise as many as a million tiny processing elements, each associated with a small random access memory. Among the principal goals of the NON-VON Project is the development of programming languages and compilers that realize the machine's potential for massive parallelism while insulating the user from the details of its tree-structured physical topology. One conceptual metaphor that has proven useful in pursuing this goal is the notion of an intelligent record, a primitive data element of arbitrary size that functions as if it were associated with its own dedicated computer. This paper describes the essential mechanisms used to support intelligent records within a high-level parallel programming language environment. We then illustrate the use of these techniques in a few simple applications and explore certain time/space tradeoffs that characterize alternative record allocation schemes.

Subject(s):

Computer science

Item views:

256

Metadata:

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