Glasgow Distributed Haskell (GdH)
- Motivation
- Language Outline
- Activity reports
- Grants
- People
- Papers
- Installing GdH
- Using GdH
Last updated: August 2011
Haskell |
GHC |
GpH |
GranSim
The number of computers in our society
is increasing exponentially, and wireless/wired network technologies
are vastly increasing connectivity. Constructing distributed software
for these systems has focussed research interest on distributed and
mobile programming languages. Compared to conventional distributed
languages, functional languages offer a more dynamic programming
model: tasks and data may be placed dynamically, and processes and
channels generated dynamically. At the cost of additional messages,
lazy functional languages support the dynamic and lazy communication
between processes.
To investigate the potential of functional distribution this
recently completed project (final report)
designed and implemented a lazy functional language with a dynamic
distributed programming model, Glasgow distributed Haskell (GdH). The
suitability of GdH for real small-scale distributed applications has
been evaluated using several programs including a simulation control
chatroom and a shared multiuser map, and making direct comparisons
with Java and other distributed functional languages.
GdH combines the multiple processes of
Concurrent Haskell with the multiple processing elements of Glasgow
Parallel Haskell (GpH). In summary the language is a minimal super-set
of GpH and Concurrent Haskell and so maintains full backwards
compatibility while providing a hierachy of threads: explicitly placed
I/O threads making use of the individual resources of each machine,
and then the implicit pure threads for parallelism.
- High-Level Technique for Distributed Telecommunications Software
- The project aims to evaluate distributed functional programming techniques for
realistic telecommunications applications.
- ESPRC GR/R 88137
- Functional Distributed Interactive Systems
- The primary aim of the project is to study the suitability of distributed lazy
functional langauges for constructing real applications with small-scale distribution.
- ESPRC GR/M 55633, Aug'99-Mar'01.
- Evaluating Functional Distribution
- Evaluating two non-strict distributed functional languages, namely Eden, and GdH.
People: Rita Loogen, Kevin Hammond.
- 4-year British Council/DAAD funded travel grant (Project No. 1097), with partners at Phillips-Universitaet Marburg, and St Andrews University.
- Performance Evaluation of Parallel Functional Programs for Multiprocessor Computer Systems
- The project aims to evaluate the performance of the Eden and GpH parallel
functional programming languages, and to construct frameworks for reasoning about them.
People: Ricardo Pena, Yolanda Ortega-Mallen, Kevin Hammond.
- 4-year British Council/Acciones Integradas travel grant (No. MDR 8472).
People currently working in this area are:
- Phil Trinder,
Email:trinder@macs.hw.ac.uk,
Lecturer.
- Jan Henry Nystrom
E-mail trinder@macs.hw.ac.uk)Research Associate.
- Robert Pointon,
Email:rpointon@macs.hw.ac.uk,
Research Associate.
- Hans Wolfgang Loidl,
Email:hwloidl@macs.hw.ac.uk,
Research Fellow.
Papers related to GdH include:
- Benchmarking a New Parallel Language Implementation
- Malcolm Watt
- MSc Thesis Heriot Watt University (August 2011).
- Evaluating High-Level Distributed Language Constructs
- Nyström J.H. Trinder P.W. King D.J.
- ACM International Conference on Functional Programming (ICFP), Freiburg, Germany (October 2007).
- Preprint
- Parallel Skeletons In Glasgow Distributed Haskell
- Yong Lu, Master of Science in Conputer Science Thesis,
Department of Computer Science,
School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2003.
- Coverpage Content
- Functional Distributed Interactive Systems
- P.W. Trinder, R.F. Pointon, H-W. Loidl, Project final report, July 2001.
Here.
- Functional vs Object-Oriented Distributed Languages
- R.F. Pointon, S. Priebe, H-W. Loidl, R.Loogen, and P.W. Trinder, Eurocast'01,
International Conference on Computer Aided Systems Theory, Canary Islands, Spain, February 2001.
- In Preparation.
- The Design and Implementation of Glasgow Distributed Haskell
- R.F. Pointon, P.W. Trinder, and H-W. Loidl, IFL'00,
Implementation of Functional Languages, Aachen, Germany, September 2000.
- Draft proceedings.
- The Design and Implementation of GdH
- R.F. Pointon, P.W. Trinder, and H-W. Loidl, SFP'00,
Scottish Functional Programming Workshop, St Andrews, Scotland, July 2000.
- Draft proceedings only.
- Runtime System Level Fault Tolerance for a Distributed Functional Language
- H-W. Loidl, P.W. Trinder, and R.F. Pointon, SFP'00,
Scottish Functional Programming Workshop, St Andrews, Scotland, July 2000.
- Draft proceedings.
- Review of GdH: August 1999 - February 2000
- R.F. Pointon, Internal report, February 2000.
- Here.
- Motivation for Glasgow distributed Haskell, a non-strict Functional Language
- P.W. Trinder, PDSIA'99, Parallel and Distributed Computing for
Symbolic and Irregular Applications, Sendai, Japan, July 1999.
- From Proceedings.
Requirements:
Steps:
- In "build.mk" define: "GhcLibWays= md"
- make
- Unpack the GdH headers into a seperate directory and try to compile. (It doesn't yet!)
- Contact the authors -- we haven't finished checking that install works! (Robert Pointon 13th July 2001)
Linux Binary Snapshot of GdH
GdH 25Feb2002 Binaries: "gdh.tar.gz" (18Mb)
Notes:
- Creates the single top level directory "gdh/".
- The file "gdh/i386-unknown-linux/ghc/driver/ghc-inplace" will need to be edited so
that the $TOP_PWD variable refers to the correct install location, i.e, this gdh directory
was originally installed at "/net/ushas1/rpointon" thus the full path of the compiler was
"/net/ushas1/rpointon/gdh/i386-unknown-linux".
- "gdh/gdh" is the name of the compiler (instead of "ghc") and is a
link to the above file "gdh/i386-unknown-linux/ghc/driver/ghc-inplace".
- "gdh/GDH_Demos/ping/" contains a demo program - type make to build.
A gentle introduction with test programs... (Soon!)