Initial Performance of the DADO2 Prototype

Abstract

On December 5, 1985 a 1023-processor parallel machine named DADO2 was successfully demonstrated at Columbia University. DADO2 is the fourth prototype, but the first large-scale prototype, of a class of machines called DADO. DADO was first proposed in 1980 as a special-purpose parallel computer attached to a conventional host processor and designed to accelerate a particular class of artificial intelligence rule-based programming paradigms called production systems. PSs have been widely used for the implementation of knowledge-based expert systems. Since its introduction, we have learned that DADO suits the high-speed execution of a large class of problems that we call almost decomposable searching problems, of which PSs are but one example. Several specific examples of this class of problems presently run on DADO2; others are currently under development and nearing completion. In this article the author presents the initial measured performance of the implemented systems on the DADO2 prototype. This data is preceded by a general overview of the DADO architecture and the theoretical speedup achievable for almost decomposable searching problems.