Poker on the Cosmic Cube: The First Retargetable Parallel Programming Language and Environment

Abstract : This paper describes a technique for retargetting Poker, the first complete parallel programming environment, to new parallel architectures. The specifics are illustrated by describing the retarget of Poker to CalTech's Cosmic Cube. Poker requires only three features from the target architecture: MIMD operation, message passing inter-process communication, and a sequential language (e.g. C) for the processor elements. In return Poker gives the new architecture a complete parallel programming environment which will compile Poker parallel programs without modification, into efficient object code for the new architecture. Keywords: Poker parallel programming; Software portability.