The purpose of this project is to improve the current version of High Performance Fortran ( HPF-1 ) and related compiler technology by extending the functionality of the language and developing optimizing compilation strategies, depending on the requirements of a set of advanced application codes.

Objectives and Results

• to develop a set of project benchmarks, reflecting advanced application problems,
• to develop a specification of an extended HPF language, ``HPF+'', which addresses the requirements of the project benchmarks, and to participate in the standardization effort for HPF-2,
• to extend and implement optimizing compiler technology for HPF+ in the framework of the Vienna Fortran Compilation System ( VFCS),
• to extend the Measurements Description, Evaluation and Analysis Tool ( MEDEA ) for performance analysis of the project benchmarks,
• to evaluate the new language and compiler technology by using the project benchmarks and comparing the outcome with implementations based on HPF-1 and explicit message passing, and
• to support a transfer of technology from academia to industry.

The HPF+ Consortium consists of application designers ( ESI, ECMWF, and AVL) and both academic and commercial language, compiler, and tool developers (Universities of Vienna and Pavia, and NA Software). The approach taken to achieve the goals of the project will be based upon a close cooperation between all partners.

More specifically, the application partners will play a crucial role in the design and evaluation phases by selecting the benchmarks, identifying critical requirements, and establishing the evaluation criteria. On the other hand, the language and tool developers will base their work on the stated requirements and will provide feedback to the application designers concerning ways of implementing critical code sections using HPF-1 and HPF+.

Impact of the Expected Results

The work performed in the project will have an impact in at least the following areas:

• it will significantly influence an international language standardization effort,
• it will push the state-of-the-art in compiler technology for parallel systems, and
• it will contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of a European software provider in the international marketplace.

Exploitation

The work in the project will result in prototype implementations within the framework of VFCS. The results will be widely disseminated via the HPF Forum, workshops, and conferences, which will make them available to the whole HPF community. In each project year, an international workshop on HPF language and implementation will be organized.

Products will not be developed. However, long-term exploitation is assured by the fact that

• the application codes used for the benchmarks are commercial products which are being considered for future parallelization based on the HPF technology, and
• the transfer of technology to NA Software in the project will play an important role in the future development of HPF compiler products by NAS.