Restructuring Lisp programs for concurrent execution

Abstract

This paper describes the techniques that the program transformation system CURARE uses to restructure Lisp programs for concurrent execution in multiprocessor Lisp systems and discusses the problems inherent in producing concurrent programs in a flexible and dynamic programming language such as Lisp. CURARE's overall organization is similar to other program restructuring systems: it detects potential conflicts between statements in a program, then transforms the program to improve its concurrent performance, and finally inserts synchronization to ensure the program's concurrent behavior. However, the language and programs that CURARE transforms are very different from the FORTRAN programs that are the traditional targets of program restructuring and so CURARE requires new algorithms and approaches, which are described in this paper.