Parallel programming in a virtual object space

Abstract

Sloop is a parallel language and environment that employs an object-oriented model for explicit parallel programming of MIMD multiprocessors. The Sloop runtime system transforms a network of processors into a virtual object space . A virtual object space contains a collection of objects that cooperate to solve a problem. Sloop encapsulates virtual object space semantics within the object type domain . This system-defined type provides an associative, asynchronous method by which one object gains access to another. It also provides an operation for specifying groups of objects that should, for efficiency, reside on the same physical processor, and supports exploitation of the topology of the underlying parallel machine. Domains also support the creation of indivisible objects, which provide implicit concurrency control. The encapsulation of these semantics within an object gives the programmer the power to construct an arbitrary hierarchy of virtual object spaces, facilitating debugging and program modularity. Sloop implementations are running on a bus-based multiprocessor, a hypercube multiprocessor, and on a heterogeneous network of workstations. The runtime system uses object relocation heuristics and coroutine scheduling to attain high performance.