The parascope editor: an interactive parallel programming tool

The ParaScope project is building an integrated collection of tools to help scientific programmers develop correct and efficient parallel programs. The centerpiece of this collection is the ParaScope Editor, an intelligent interactive editor for parallel FORTRAN programs. The ParaScope Editor displays data dependencies, which correspond to potential data races among the iterations of a parallel loop, to assist the user in determining the correctness of a proposed parallelization. In addition, it uses dependencies to support a variety of program transformations selectable by the programmer. The eventual goal for the ParaScope Editor is to support arbitrary editing changes by performing full incremental data dependence analysis in response to program changes. In addition, it will understand and recognize when synchronization correctly prevents race conditions. The ParaScope Editor is a new kind of program construction tool; one that not only manages text, but also presents the user with insights into the semantic structure of the program being constructed.