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Multiprocessor Smalltalk: a case study of a multiprocessor-based programming environment

Authors:

D. UngarAuthors Info & Claims

PLDI '88: Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN 1988 conference on Programming language design and implementation

Pages 268 - 277

https://doi.org/10.1145/53990.54017

Published: 01 June 1988 Publication History

Abstract

We have adapted an interactive programming system (Smalltalk) to a multiprocessor (the Firefly). The task was not as difficult as might be expected, thanks to the application of three basic strategies: serialization, replication, and reorganization. Serialization of access to resources disallows concurrent access. Replication provides multiple instances of resources when they cannot or should not be serialized. Reorganization allows us to restructure part of the system when the other two strategies cannot be applied.

We serialized I/O, memory allocation, garbage collection, and scheduling, we replicated the interpreter process, software caches, and a free-list, and we reorganized portions of the scheduling system to deal with some deep-seated assumptions. Our changes yielded a fairly low static overhead. We attribute our success to the choice of a small, flexible operating system, a set of constraints which simplified the problem, and the versality of the three strategies for dealing with concurrency. The current system has a moderate amount of overhead when parallelism is being used—25% to 65%. It is acceptable, but we believe it can be improved.

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Cited By

Matthes LTaeumel MMiranda EHirschfeld R(2024)Multi-threaded OpenSmalltalk VM: Choosing a Strategy for ParallelizationCompanion Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming10.1145/3660829.3660846(87-93)Online publication date: 11-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3660829.3660846
Ungar DAdams S(2009)Hosting an object heap on manycore hardwareACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/1837513.164014944:12(99-110)Online publication date: 26-Oct-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1837513.1640149
Ungar DAdams SNoble J(2009)Hosting an object heap on manycore hardwareProceedings of the 5th symposium on Dynamic languages10.1145/1640134.1640149(99-110)Online publication date: 26-Oct-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1640134.1640149
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Multiprocessor Smalltalk: a case study of a multiprocessor-based programming environment
1. Computer systems organization
  1. Architectures
    1. Parallel architectures
      1. Multiple instruction, multiple data
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Development frameworks and environments
    2. General programming languages
      1. Language types

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

PLDI '88: Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN 1988 conference on Programming language design and implementation

June 1988

338 pages

ISBN:0897912691

DOI:10.1145/53990

Editor:
R. L. Wexelblat
Philips Laboratories, Briarcliff Manor, NY

ACM SIGPLAN Notices Volume 23, Issue 7
Proceedings of the SIGPLAN '88 conference on Programming language design and implementation
July 1988
338 pages
ISSN:0362-1340
EISSN:1558-1160
DOI:10.1145/960116
Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 1988 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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SIGPLAN: ACM Special Interest Group on Programming Languages

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 June 1988

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PLDI88

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SIGPLAN

PLDI88: SIGPLAN 88

June 20 - 24, 1988

Georgia, Atlanta, USA

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Overall Acceptance Rate 406 of 2,067 submissions, 20%

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Cited By

Matthes LTaeumel MMiranda EHirschfeld R(2024)Multi-threaded OpenSmalltalk VM: Choosing a Strategy for ParallelizationCompanion Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming10.1145/3660829.3660846(87-93)Online publication date: 11-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3660829.3660846
Ungar DAdams S(2009)Hosting an object heap on manycore hardwareACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/1837513.164014944:12(99-110)Online publication date: 26-Oct-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1837513.1640149
Ungar DAdams SNoble J(2009)Hosting an object heap on manycore hardwareProceedings of the 5th symposium on Dynamic languages10.1145/1640134.1640149(99-110)Online publication date: 26-Oct-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1640134.1640149
Hosokawa KNakamura HKamimura T(2005)Concurrent programming in COBConcurrency: Theory, Language, and Architecture10.1007/3-540-53932-8_49(142-156)Online publication date: 7-Jun-2005
https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-53932-8_49
Vialle SLallement YCornu T(1998)Design and implementation of a parallel cellular language for MIMD architecturesComputer Languages10.1016/S0096-0551(98)00007-124:3(125-153)Online publication date: 1-Oct-1998
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/S0096-0551%2898%2900007-1
Gao YYuen C(1993)A survey of implementations of concurrent, parallel and distributed SmalltalkACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/165364.16537528:9(29-35)Online publication date: 1-Sep-1993
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/165364.165375
Ogata KKurihara SInari MDoi N(1992)The design and implementation of HoMEACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/143103.14311727:7(44-54)Online publication date: 1-Jul-1992
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/143103.143117
Ogata KKurihara SInari MDoi NFeldman S(1992)The design and implementation of HoMEProceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN 1992 conference on Programming language design and implementation10.1145/143095.143117(44-54)Online publication date: 1-Jul-1992
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/143095.143117
Venkatasubramanian NMiriyala SAgha G(1992)Scalable concurrent computingSadhana10.1007/BF0281134317:1(193-220)Online publication date: Mar-1992
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02811343
Sharma RSoffa M(1991)Parallel generational garbage collectionACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/118014.11795626:11(16-32)Online publication date: 1-Nov-1991
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/118014.117956
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