GRAPNEL: A Graphical Programming Language for Parallel Programs

We propose a new visual structured programming language, GRAPNEL (GRAphical Process's NEt Language) for designing distributed parallel programs. This language is a part of a complex software environment for parallel programming which includes tools for design, mapping, visualization, optimization, monitoring and debugging of parallel systems. For design we use a hybrid language where the main internal structure of the processes and the communication between processes are described using graphical representaion, meanwhile the sequential parts and code fragments without communication are described using textual representation. 2 Introduction Parallel processing is emerging as a promising way of computation as powerful new multiprocessor computers are becoming available at reduced cost. Also, there is a need to exploit a collection of machines joined by a fast interconnection network. However, if we use a distributed system instead of a single--processing one, it raises new difficulties ..