The Sisal model of functional programming and its implementation

Abstract

Programming a massively-parallel machine is a daunting task for any human programmer, and parallelization may even be impossible for any compiler. Instead, the functional programming paradigm may prove to be an ideal solution by providing an implicitly parallel interface to the programmer. We describe the Sisal (Stream and Iteration in a Single Assignment Language) project. Its goal is to provide a general-purpose user interface for a wide range of parallel processing platforms.