Automatic data distribution for nearest neighbor networks

An algorithm for mapping an arbitrary, multidimensional array onto an arbitrarily shaped multidimensional nearest-neighbor network of a distributed memory machine is presented. The individual dimensions of the array are labeled with high-level usage descriptors that either can be provided by the programmer or can be derived by sophisticated static compiler analysis. The presented algorithm achieves an appropriate exploitation of nearest-neighbor communication and allows for efficient address calculations. The author describes the integration of this technique into an optimizing compiler for Modula-2 and derives extensions that render efficient translation of nested parallelism possible and that provide support for thread scheduling.<>