Shape-based programming: sharpening the tools

Funding: 2000: $56,000
2001: $58,000
2002: $60,000

Funding or Partner Organisation: Australian Research Council (ARC Large Grant)

Start year: 2000

Summary: Our existing specialist languages, FML and FISh1, use shape-based tools to improve programming expressivity and execution speed, respectively. These traditionally antagonistic benefits will be combined in the general-purpose language FISh2, setting a new standard in language design. Also, this combination is the key to the adoption of parallel computing by non-specialists. Maintaining efficiency across many architectures requires automatic program optimisation, which must be guided by a model of execution costs. GoldFISh will extend FISh2 with a shape-based cost model to set a new standard in portable, efficient, data parallel programming, and be useable by general scientists and engineers.

Publications:

Jay, CB 2004, 'The pattern calculus', ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 911-937.
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Jay, CB, Lu, HY & Nguyen, QT 2004, 'The Polymorphic Imperative: a Generic Approach to In-place Update', Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, vol. 91, pp. 195-211.
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Jay, CB 2001, 'Distinguishing data structures and functions: The constructor calculus and functorial types', Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 2044 LNCS, pp. 217-239.

FOR Codes: Application packages, Programming Languages

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.