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US/Japan Workshop on Parallel Lisp

PSC 1989: Parallel Lisp: Languages and Systems pp 101–102Cite as

Continuing into the future: On the interaction of futures and first-class continuations

  • Part I Parallel Lisp Languages and Programming Models
  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 441))

Abstract

One of the nicest features of the future construct originally presented in Multilisp [2] is its near orthogonality with respect to a functional subset of Scheme [1]. Introducing futures into most functional programs does not affect the value returned, even though the parallel execution order might differ from the sequential. When futures and continuations are used in the same program, however, parallel and sequential executions can yield different results. No existing implementation of futures has yet addressed this issue. We make futures and continuations interact properly through a simple, yet important, change to the implementation of the future construct. This change causes a second problem to manifest itself: the creation of extraneous computation threads. The second problem is addressed by making an additional change to the future construct.

(a capsule summary)

Supported by Stanford University Computer Science Department.

Supported by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract # N00014-87-K-0828.

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2 References

  1. H. Abelson, et. al. Revised3 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme. MIT AI Memo 848a.

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  2. Robert H. Halstead, Jr. Multilisp: A Language for Concurrent Symbolic Computation. ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems 7,4 (Oct. 1985), 501–538.

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  3. Robert H. Halstead, Jr. New Ideas in Parallel Lisp: Language Design, Implementation, and Tools. Paper presented at the U.S./Japan Workshop on Parallel Lisp, Sendai, Japan, June 1989, to be published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

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  4. Morry Katz and Daniel Weise. Continuing Into the Future: On the Interaction of Futures and First-Class Continuations. To be published in Proceedings of the 1990 ACM Conference on Lisp and Functional Programming.

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Authors
  1. Morry Katz
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  2. Daniel Weise
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Editor information

Takayasu Ito Robert H. Halstead Jr.

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Katz, M., Weise, D. (1990). Continuing into the future: On the interaction of futures and first-class continuations. In: Ito, T., Halstead, R.H. (eds) Parallel Lisp: Languages and Systems. PSC 1989. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 441. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0024151

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0024151

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-52782-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47143-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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