IAL: a parallel image processing programming language

The authors describe a high-level programming language for image processing, called IAL (image algebra language). IAL has been designed for low-level image processing applications. It has been implemented on transputer networks. IAL provides mechanisms whereby a programmer can specify image processing operations algebraically on the complete image. The implementation automatically parallelises the program, distributes the image data and controls all interprocess communication. The language is based on image algebra (a mathematical notation developed specifically for low-level image processing at the University of Florida). They describe the features of the language and provide an outline of some of the strategies used in implementing it on a transputer network.