MATLAB Extensions and Compiler Techniques for High-Performance Computing
Description: MATLAB has become the most popular rapid prototyping language for
scientific computing. Highlevel mathematical languages like MATLAB
dramatically simplify program development. Unfortunately, this
simplification often has come at the expense of efficient implementation.
Today, MATLAB programs are usually interpreted on sequential machines.
Thus, the performance of these programs suffers in comparison with Fortran
programs compiled on parallel high-performance computers. The objective of
this project is to develop and evaluate language extensions, run-time
libraries, and tools for compiling MATLAB and similar interactive languages
for efficient execution on classes of target machines ranging from
uniprocessor workstations to highly-parallel distributed systems.
The technical thrust of this project is to develop restructuring compiler
technology that will enable the translation of MATLAB codes into sequential
or parallel object code that is competitive with handwritten code produced
by skillful FORTRAN programmers. The work will build on previous work by
the investigators and will take advantage of existing software modules from
the Falcon system (developed at Illinois). The compiler will accept
parallel extensions and will be able to automatically translate sequential
MATLAB loops into parallel form. The compiler will transform the code to
enhance locality and generate efficient sparse code from dense
computations. This transformation is necessary because MATLAB codes usually
represent sparse computations in dense form. The investigators will also
consider incorporating some of the compiler modules into the interpreter
for just-in-time restructuring.
Funder: National Science Foundation
Amount: $395,600
Funding type: grant
Funder scheme: Continuing Grant
Start date: 1999-01-01
End date: 2002-12-31
Investigators: David Padua (lead), Luiz DeRose
Institutions: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Funded outputs count: 7
Funder award ID: 9870687
OpenAlex ID: G1922264397