A new parallel programming language fortress: Features and applications

An overview of a newly designed parallel programming language is presented in this paper. Fortress, an outcome of the high productivity computing systems program at DARPA, is examined through its features like mathematical notation, implicitly parallel nature and ease of library coding, its potential to grow easily and its interchangeable program parts. Code writing is discussed through examples. The tests for its scalability are done with several array types and also a comparison of an application written both in C and Fortress is presented. The usability and the future of the language in HPC environments are also discussed.