SISAL
(Streams and Iteration in a Single Assignment
Language) A general-purpose single assignment functional
programming language with strict semantics, automatic
parallelisation and efficient arrays. Outputs a dataflow
graph in IF1 (Intermediary Form 1). Derived from VAL,
adds recursion and finite streams. Pascal-like syntax.
Designed to be a common high-level language for numerical
programs on a variety of multiprocessors.
Implementations exist for Cray X-MP, Cray Y-MP, Cray-2,
Sequent, Encore Alliant, dataflow architectures,
transputers and systolic arrays.
Defined in 1983 by James McGraw et al, Manchester
University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
Colorado State University and DEC. Revised in 1985.
First compiled implementation in 1986. Performance superior
to C and competitive with Fortran, combined with efficient
and automatic parallelisation.
Not to be confused with SASL.
E-mail: John Feo , Rod Oldehoeft
.
David C. Cann has written an <Optimising SISAL Compiler> (OSC) which attempts to make
efficient use of parallel processors such as Crays.
["A Report on the SISAL Language Project", J.T. Feo et al, J
Parallel and Distrib Computing 10(4):349-366 (Dec 1990)].
(2000-07-07)
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