MAP@MIT-XX.ARPA (08/21/84)
From: Pamela Sedell <MAP@MIT-XX.ARPA>
[Forwarded from the MIT bboard by SASW@MIT-MC.]
"Functional Languages and Parallel Computers"
John Hughes
Oxford University Computing Laboratory
Programming Research Group, Oxford
Friday, August 24, 1984
NE43-512, 2:15
We introduce functional programming and show how "real programs"
such as simple operating systems can be written functionally. We
also explain why functional languages are particularly useful for
programming parallel computers. We have discovered that the
relationship between functional languages and parallel computers
is closer than previously suspected: functional languages actually
require a parallel implementation if they are to use memory efficiently.
We introduce two simple constructs which allow the functional programmer
to exert close control over memory requirements, and give a number of
examples to illustrate them in use. The new constructs can also be
used to implement "non-deterministic unmerge".