Language Challenges for Multi-Core Processors
In Jim Turley's recent Silicon Insider, he talked about multi-core processors.But new compilers and debuggers won't be enough. We're facing a change to new programming languages. Current languages like C don't express parallelism well. Compilers can identify threads of execution or independent constructs and extract some small amounts of parallelism here and there, but the language itself prevents large-scale parallelism. If we're to exploit these new multi-processor chips, we're going to have to swallow hard, roll up our sleeves, and tackle a truly Herculean task.
Hmm. Languages that express parallelism well. I wonder where I can find one of those?
Technorati Tags: Parallelism , Multicore
posted by Joel @ 3:26 PM
2 Comments:
Hm, parallelism in LV is great, but LV will never spread into the "normal" programming world just for one reason: there're no alternatives of compilers and development environments available. With the switch to LV 8 I had to experience that dependence on just one vendor is a really bad thing. And LV isn't very cheap actually...
I must admit, though, that I can't imagine such an easy and elegent way of implementing parallelism in a text language like in LV, but maybe I just haven't worked with the right one yet.
So what exaclty is he implying by saying "we're going to have to swallow hard, roll up our sleeves, and tackle a truly Herculean task." ?
Learning a new language? New compilers? What is the Herculean solution to this problem?
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