Multi-processing using the array processing language Apl.

Altera_Forum · ‎10-07-2012

I am keen to use the array processing language Apl as nodes in a multi-processing network.

I first worked on this in the 1980s/1990s, with the Transputer, on a Helios computer.

In the 80s I was hand-translating Apl to Basic and 6800 assembler, in the 90s to LabVIEW, and at the moment I am having to do it to VHDL. The aim is to make use of Tim Budd's aplc Apl to c translator, which in the 1990s I ported to SGIs and the Dec Alpha, as well as the lowly Atari TT. This has the advantage that in the 19980s/1990s I also added a minimum set of multi-tasking / multi-processor facilities (Julian Timestamp, pipe, spawn, and detailed I/O control) which I believe give it some of the capacity to form multiprocessing nodes :

http://home.earthlink.net/~swsirlin/aplcc.html (http://home.earthlink.net/~swsirlin/aplcc.html)

http://www.lab-tools.com/instrumentation/html/dod22.html

A Pipe has two ends. Using APL in a multiprocess/multiprocessor environment. A proposal for a flexible but easy to use syntax. J.B. Webber. Apl Quad Quote 20, 1, 1-2, Sept 1989. http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/379199.379200 (The proposal and implementation of a software mechanism now used by IBM.)

Now I have had some trouble in compiling the aplc run time library for the Altera devices, I seem to keep picking up more than one library definition for some functions. I regret to say that to get this library to compile I have had to turn off all the multi-tasking facilities, but for the moment simple code does run. I will have to dig and see what the problem is, because when I look at the library files, it all seems to be there.

Anyway, for a very short test, of summing a vector :

apl running in microapl's aplx :

      V &#8592; &#9075; 9
      &#9109; &#8592; V
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
      S &#8592; +/V
      &#9109; &#8592; S
45

niosii :

Translated to c and compiled and running on a DE1 :

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
 45

Here is a simple set of matrix operations in a function "matrix":

source in aplx:

matrix
'A:'
A &#8592; &#9075; 5
A
' '
'B:'
B &#8592; &#9075; 9
B
' '
'C: inner product:'
C &#8592; A &#8728;.× B
C
' '
'T: transpose:'
T &#8592; &#9033; C
T
' '
'O: outer product (matrix multiply):'
O &#8592; C  +.× T
O
' '
'S: solve matrix:'
S &#8592; C &#9017; A
S

niosii "media" floating point soft processor, on a terassic de1 development board :

A:
 1 2 3 4 5
 
B:
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
 
C: inner product:
 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
 2  4  6  8 10 12 14 16 18
 3  6  9 12 15 18 21 24 27
 4  8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36
 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
 
T: transpose:
 1  2  3  4  5
 2  4  6  8 10
 3  6  9 12 15
 4  8 12 16 20
 5 10 15 20 25
 6 12 18 24 30
 7 14 21 28 35
 8 16 24 32 40
 9 18 27 36 45
 
O: outer product (matrix multiply):
  285  570  855 1140 1425
  570 1140 1710 2280 2850
  855 1710 2565 3420 4275
 1140 2280 3420 4560 5700
 1425 2850 4275 5700 7125
 
S: solve matrix:
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

I am currently trying to get ./configure to work from inside Eclipse.

Then look at communications.

If anyone else is interested in joining such a project, please do contact me.

Cheers,

Beau Webber