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Regions: an abstraction for expressing array computation

Authors:

Bradford L. Chamberlain,

E. Christopher Lewis,

Lawrence SnyderAuthors Info & Claims

APL '99: Proceedings of the conference on APL '99 : On track to the 21st century: On track to the 21st century

Pages 41 - 49

https://doi.org/10.1145/312627.312713

Published: 01 December 1998 Publication History

Abstract

Most array languages, including Fortran 90, Matlab, and APL, provide support for referencing arrays by extending the traditional array subscripting construct found in scalar languages. We present an alternative to subscripting that exploits the concept of regions---an index set representation that can be named, manipulated with high-level operators, and syntactically separated from array references. This paper develops the concept of region-based programming and describes its benefits in the context of an idealized array language called RL. We show that regions simplify programming, reduce the likelihood of errors, and enable code reuse. Furthermore, we describe how regions accentuate the locality of array expressions and how this locality is important when targeting parallel computers. We also show how the concepts of region-based programming have been used in ZPL, a fully-implemented practical parallel programming language in use by scientists and engineers. In addition, we contrast region-based programming with the array reference constructs of other array languages.

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Cited By

Chamberlain BCallahan DZima H(2007)Parallel Programmability and the Chapel LanguageInternational Journal of High Performance Computing Applications10.1177/109434200707844221:3(291-312)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2007
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1177/1094342007078442
Grelck CScholz S(2006)SACInternational Journal of Parallel Programming10.1007/s10766-006-0018-x34:4(383-427)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2006
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10766-006-0018-x
Callahan DChamberlain BZima H(2004)The cascade high productivity languageNinth International Workshop on High-Level Parallel Programming Models and Supportive Environments, 2004. Proceedings.10.1109/HIPS.2004.1299190(52-60)Online publication date: 2004
https://doi.org/10.1109/HIPS.2004.1299190
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Regions: an abstraction for expressing array computation
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. General programming languages
      1. Language types

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Regions: an abstraction for expressing array computation

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Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

APL '99: Proceedings of the conference on APL '99 : On track to the 21st century: On track to the 21st century

August 1999

108 pages

ISBN:1581131267

DOI:10.1145/312627

Editors:
Stephen M. Mansour
The Carlisle Group
,
Garth Foster
Syracuse Univ. Syracuse, NY

ACM SIGAPL APL Quote Quad Volume 29, Issue 2
Dec. 1998
108 pages
ISSN:0163-6006
DOI:10.1145/379277
Editor:
Olivier Lefèvre
Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 1998 Authors.

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SIGAPL: ACM Special Interest Group on APL Programming Language
SIGPLAN: ACM Special Interest Group on Programming Languages
NYSIGAPL: NY ACM SIGAPL Chapter

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 December 1998

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Cited By

Chamberlain BCallahan DZima H(2007)Parallel Programmability and the Chapel LanguageInternational Journal of High Performance Computing Applications10.1177/109434200707844221:3(291-312)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2007
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1177/1094342007078442
Grelck CScholz S(2006)SACInternational Journal of Parallel Programming10.1007/s10766-006-0018-x34:4(383-427)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2006
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10766-006-0018-x
Callahan DChamberlain BZima H(2004)The cascade high productivity languageNinth International Workshop on High-Level Parallel Programming Models and Supportive Environments, 2004. Proceedings.10.1109/HIPS.2004.1299190(52-60)Online publication date: 2004
https://doi.org/10.1109/HIPS.2004.1299190
Deitz SChamberlain BSnyder L(2004)Abstractions for dynamic data distributionNinth International Workshop on High-Level Parallel Programming Models and Supportive Environments, 2004. Proceedings.10.1109/HIPS.2004.1299189(42-51)Online publication date: 2004
https://doi.org/10.1109/HIPS.2004.1299189
Dattilo GSpezzano G(2003)Simulation of a cellular landslide model with CAMELOT on high performance computersParallel Computing10.1016/j.parco.2003.05.00229:10(1403-1418)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2003
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.parco.2003.05.002
Rey DStubblefield JCanning J(2002)Porting the parallel array programming language ZPL to an embedded multicomputing systemACM SIGAPL APL Quote Quad10.1145/604444.60225132:4(168-175)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2002
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/604444.602251
Rey DStubblefield JCanning JAlfonseca MAlamán X(2002)Porting the parallel array programming language ZPL to an embedded multicomputing systemProceedings of the 2002 conference on APL: array processing languages: lore, problems, and applications10.1145/602231.602251(168-175)Online publication date: 22-Jul-2002
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/602231.602251
Deitz SChamberlain BSnyder L(2002)High-level Language Support for User-defined ReductionsThe Journal of Supercomputing10.1023/A:101578101844923:1(23-37)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2002
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1023/A%3A1015781018449
Chamberlain BSnyder LFurnari MGallopoulos E(2001)Array language support for parallel sparse computationProceedings of the 15th international conference on Supercomputing10.1145/377792.377820(133-145)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2001
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/377792.377820
Chamberlain BChoi SLewis ELin CSnyder LWeathersby W(2000)ZPLIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/32.84294726:3(197-211)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2000
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/32.842947
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