AMPL: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Multiprocessing Language

Abstract : AMPL is an experimental high-level language for expressing parallel algorithms which involve many interdependent and cooperating tasks. AMPL is a strongly-typed language in which all inter-process communication takes place via message passing. The language has been implemented on the Cm multiprocessor, and a number of programs have been written to perforrm numeric and symbolic computation. In this eport, the design decisions relating to process communication primitives are discussed, and AMPL is compared to several other languages for parallel processing. The implementation of message passing, process creation, and parallel garbage collection are described. Measurements of several AMPL programs are used to study the effects of language design decisions upon program performance and algorithm design.

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