Ease programming language
Encyclopedia
Ease is a general purpose parallel
programming language
, designed by Steven Ericsson-Zenith of Yale University
. It combines the process constructs of CSP
with logically shared data structures called contexts. Contexts are parallel data types that are constructed by processes and provide a way for processes to interact.
The language includes two process constructors.
A cooperation includes an explicit barrier synchronization and is written:
If one process finishes before the other then it will wait until the other processes are finished.
A subordination creates a process that shares the contexts that are in scope when created and finishes when complete (it does not wait for other processes) and is written:
Subordinate processes stop if they attempt to interact with a context that has completed because the parent process has stopped. This enables speculative processes to be created that will finish if their result is not needed.
Powerful replication syntax allows multiple processes to be created. For example
creates n synchronized processes each with a local constant i.
Processes cannot share local variables and cooperate in the construction of shared contexts. Certain context types, called resources, ensure call-reply semantics.
There are four functions upon contexts:
Context types are Singletons, Bags or Streams and can be subscripted arrays.
Ease has a semiotic definition. This means that it takes into account the effect the language has on the programmer and how they develop algorithms. The language was designed to ease the development of parallel programs.
Parallel computing
Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously, operating on the principle that large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently . There are several different forms of parallel computing: bit-level,...
programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
, designed by Steven Ericsson-Zenith of Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. It combines the process constructs of CSP
Communicating sequential processes
In computer science, Communicating Sequential Processes is a formal language for describing patterns of interaction in concurrent systems. It is a member of the family of mathematical theories of concurrency known as process algebras, or process calculi...
with logically shared data structures called contexts. Contexts are parallel data types that are constructed by processes and provide a way for processes to interact.
The language includes two process constructors.
A cooperation includes an explicit barrier synchronization and is written:
If one process finishes before the other then it will wait until the other processes are finished.
A subordination creates a process that shares the contexts that are in scope when created and finishes when complete (it does not wait for other processes) and is written:
Subordinate processes stop if they attempt to interact with a context that has completed because the parent process has stopped. This enables speculative processes to be created that will finish if their result is not needed.
Powerful replication syntax allows multiple processes to be created. For example
creates n synchronized processes each with a local constant i.
Processes cannot share local variables and cooperate in the construction of shared contexts. Certain context types, called resources, ensure call-reply semantics.
There are four functions upon contexts:
- read ( context, variable ), copies a value from the shared context to the variable.
- write ( context, expression ), copies the value of expression to the shared context.
- put ( context, name ), moves the value bound to name to the shared context. The value of name is subsequently undefined.
- get ( context, name ), moves a value from context and binds it to name. The value is removed from the context.
Context types are Singletons, Bags or Streams and can be subscripted arrays.
Ease has a semiotic definition. This means that it takes into account the effect the language has on the programmer and how they develop algorithms. The language was designed to ease the development of parallel programs.