🚀 go-pugleaf

                                     COLLOQUIUM

                University at Albany - State University of New York

                            Computer Science Department

                    Visual Assistance for Concurrent Processing

                                    Rob Erbacher

                                University of Idaho

            Thursday, April 1, 1999 at 4:00PM, in LI-98 (CS Conference Room)

                                      ABSTRACT

                 Recent advances in concurrent  architecture  technology
            have  led  to  a dramatic increase in the number of types of
            systems available as well as the number of systems in actual
            use.  In  contrast,  software  technology has not kept pace.
            Software tools have yet to be developed which fully  compen-
            sate for the added difficulties and complexities inherent in
            programming  concurrent  architectures.  Consequently,   the
            tools used to aid in the development and debugging of appli-
            cations for these types of architectures are often  insuffi-
            cient  for  the  task. This makes it extremely difficult and
            time consuming to develop correct and  efficient  concurrent
            applications.  The availability of high end graphics systems
            with most concurrent hardware  provides  an  opportunity  to
            extend development and debugging tools to use these graphics
            capabilities, where applicable.

                 In this research, we explored interactive computational
            steering,  data analysis (as opposed to processor or control
            analysis), analysis of data operations, often  using  direct
            manipulation  techniques,  all in support of the development
            of concurrent applications.

                                       - 2 -

                 We extended interactive computational  steering  beyond
            the  ability  to  merely  steer data values instantaneously.
            This resulted in techniques for the steering of  operations,
            allowing the user to modify the application dynamically dur-
            ing execution. We also extended data steering to incorporate
            a persistent mode. In the persistent mode, once the user has
            specified the values for designated variable  elements,  the
            environment does not allow them to change.