On exploiting declarative programming and parallel execution in computer based real-time systems

Presents experiences from modelling real-time applications in the declarative functional language H, developed hand-in-hand with a novel parallel graph reduction architecture called rp8601, both designed with the requirements of real-time embedded systems in mind. In rp8601, the analogue and digital interactions with the environment have been designed into the chips and into the language, and so have mechanisms to handle time constraints. Traditionally, declarative programming means that the programmer need not be aware of the processor operations. Instead, he can focus on the abstract relations between the input and output streams. The specific real-time requirements have normally not been taken into account in the declarative view. Our conclusion is that declarative functional programming is a viable technique for the development of complex software for embedded real-time systems. However, considerable efforts have to be spent on educating and training the application programmers in the new programming paradigm.<
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