UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
		 COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM

                    "Declarative Stream Processing 
                      for Multicores with S-Net"
 
         		    Clemens Grelck 
		     (School of Computer Science,
		     University of Hertfordshire)

			1 November 2006 (Wednesday)

			  Lecture Theatre E350
		       Hatfield, College Lane Campus
			       3 - 4 pm

	       Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available.
			  [Catering Permitting]

		    Everyone is Welcome to Attend
			  [Space Permitting]



Abstract:

The recent advent of multicore technology in processor designs
has introduced parallel computing power to the desktop. Unlike
the increase in clock frequency characteristic for previous
generations of processors, application programs do not automatically
benefit from multiple cores, but require explicit parallelisation.
This need brings parallel and distributed programming techniques
from the niche of traditional supercomputing application areas
(e.g. scientific computing, image processing) into the main stream
of computer science. However, the shift in application characteristics
also demands new programming concepts, tools and infrastructure.

We present the design of S-Net, a declarative programming
language for the high-level specification of streaming networks.
These S-Nets describe the coordination behaviour of asynchronous
compute agents and their orderly interaction. The definition
of the concrete operational behaviour of compute agents is left to
traditional programming languages. The strict separation between
computing and coordination layer facilitates the reuse of existing
sequential software.

Compute agents communicate with each other via typed streams.
Types on streams and type signatures describing the extensional
behaviour of compute agents statically guarantee the integrity of
streaming networks. Subtyping on streams and agents create the
necessary flexibility to combine existing pieces of software
into streaming networks.

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Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~nehaniv/colloq