CFP: JFP Special Issue on Parallel Functional Programming

[Phil Trinder]

      Journal of Functional Programming Special Issue on 

Functional Approaches to High-Performance Parallel Programming

Guest editor: Phil Trinder
Submission deadine: 26th September 2003
Web Page: http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~trinder/jfpCFP.htm

High-performance parallel programs are hard to write.  For a long time
it has been recognised that ideas and approaches drawn from functional
programming may be particularly applicable in this area because

  * Concurrent stateless computations are much easier to coordinate. 
  * High-level coordination reduces programming effort. 
  * Declarative notations are amenable to reasoning, i.e. to transformation, 
    derivation and analysis. 

After a long gestation, this potential is now finally being realised
in practice.  Declarative techniques are being used to construct
significant parallel and high-throughput systems, e.g. real-time image
analysis and high-end telephone exchanges. Many production
systems use conventional imperative technologies in a declarative way,
e.g. coordinating legacy Fortran code.  Furthermore, the recent
emergence of computational Grids pose new challenges that the
functional paradigm is well-placed to address: grids offer enormous
amounts of computing power, but require sophisticated and dynamic
management that is hard to provide in a low-level paradigm.

A special issue of the Journal of Functional Programming will be
devoted to functional approaches to high-performance parallel
programming. Full-length, archival-quality submissions are solicited
on topics including but not limited to the following.

  * Skeletons and higher-order parallel program construction
  * Parallel Program development methodologies, including derivation 
    and optimisation.
  * Parallel program modelling, including static analyses to predict 
    properties (e.g. cost models) and dynamic analyses to profile execution 
    properties.
  * Parallel functional languages, including design, semantics, 
    implementation and performance.
  * High-performance functional and skeleton applications.
  * Adaption of high-performance functional technologies for emerging 
    architectures such as the Grid. 

Papers covering a fusion of functional and more conventional
technologies are encouraged, in addition to papers on purely
functional technologies.  

Submissions should be sent to the guest editor Phil Trinder
(trinder@macs.hw.ac.uk), with a copy to Jenny Parker
(jparker@cambridge.org). Submitted articles should be sent in PDF or
Postscript format, preferably gzipped.  In addition please send as
plain text: title, abstract, and contact information.  The submission
deadline is 26th September 2003, and for other submission details,
please consult an issue of the Journal of Functional Programming or
see the Journal's web pages.

--------------------------------------------------
Phil Trinder
School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh, EH14 4AS

E-mail: trinder@macs.hw.ac.uk
Teleph: +44 (0)131 451 3435
Depart: +44 (0)131 451 3328
Fasmly: +44 (0)131 451 3327
Intrnt: http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~trinder