Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!amdahl!shs
From: shs@uts.amdahl.com (Steve Schoettler)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Parallel functional programming
Message-ID: <16nEH3bG7X1010gromQ@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
Date: 7 Apr 89 17:13:49 GMT
References: <19970@srcsip.UUCP> <19971@srcsip.UUCP>
Reply-To: shs@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Steve Schoettler)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 35

In article <19971@srcsip.UUCP> shankar@bedrock.UUCP (Son of Knuth) writes:
>
>A functional program can be thought of as a tree, each node associated
>with an operation.  A node is executed by first spawning all children
>nodes, waiting for each child to reply with an answer, and then executing
>the original parent node.  For parallel execution, you simply spawn
>children in parallel.
>
>I am looking for studies on the effects of the tree shape (e.g. branching
>factor, branching factor distribution, node service time) on the resulting
>performance.  
>---
>Subash Shankar             Honeywell Systems & Research Center
>voice: (612) 782 7558      US Snail: 3660 Technology Dr., Minneapolis, MN 55418
>shankar@src.honeywell.com  srcsip!shankar

A very good analytic treatment of parallel geometries can be found in:

"Multicomputer Networks: Message-Based Parallel Processing" by Daniel A.
Reed and Richard M. Fujimoto, MIT Press, 1987.

A good overview of the subject is in Chapter 6 (Multiprocessors) of

"High Performance Computer Architecture" by Harold S. Stone, Addison
Wesley, 1987.

Steve


-- 

        Steve Schoettler
        shs@uts.amdahl.com
        {sun,decwrl,pyramid,ames,uunet}!amdahl!shs
        Amdahl Corp., M/S 213, 1250 E. Arques Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94088