[e-lang] Multi-Core Processor Software

[Kevin Reid]

On Feb 23, 2007, at 21:17, Bill Frantz wrote:

> At our Friday meeting, Alan, Chip, Norm, and I discussed software  
> approaches to make use of multi-core processor architectures.  We  
> noted that Intel has announced that they will be delivering 80  
> cores on a chip in 5 years.  One interesting observation we made is  
> that if an E program is written to use all or mostly eventual  
> sends, it might be possible to automatically break it into multiple  
> vats, with the limit being one object/vat. ...
>
> If we can actually achieve this for meaningful programs, then using  
> 80 some-odd processing units to service the resulting vats might  
> result in significant multi-processor activity.

If a system has p processors, each with 80 cores, and is running n E  
programs designed or executed for parallelism, then you have 80*p*n  
vats. In this situation it would be important that vats be lightweight.

-- 
Kevin Reid                            <http://homepage.mac.com/kpreid/>