langreiter.com plain, simple: 2005-12-30-nssiftel

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2005-12-30-nssiftel

CREATED BY chris • LAST EDITED BY chris 6932 days AGO

Guy Steele: "Computers linked together in networks are now the norm, not the exception. Computers with multiple processors are becoming more and more common. We need programming languages that support the use of multiple threads of control. [...] In such a context, the organizing principles of structured programming may not always be appropriate. I'm not talking about avoiding goto. [...] I'm talking about sequencing, if-then-else, and loops."

"What might a language look like in which parallelism is the default? How about data-parallel languages, in which you operate, at least conceptually, on all the elements of an array at the same time? These go back to APL in the 1960s [...]. What if do loops and for loops^* were normally parallel, and you had to use a special declaration or keyword to indicate sequential execution? That might change your mindset a little bit."

^* A.k.a., in certain circles, stinking loops.