CAREER: A Transactional Software Ecosystem

最近事务存储器(TM)在主流微处理器和编程语言中的采用预示着并行编程的新纪元。简而言之，对关键部分的低开销推测性执行的支持将实现更高的生产率、更直接的可伸缩数据结构设计以及关于程序正确性的简化推理。然而，TM的全部承诺只有通过开发完整的软件生态系统才能实现，以便在系统堆栈的任何级别和所有级别(包括操作系统、语言级运行时库和最终用户代码)实现可伸缩和无冲突的事务执行。这种生态系统的设计是本研究的重点。本研究探索了为事务编程提供无缝环境的算法和软件系统。通过对C和Java语言的关注，该项目将发明数据结构和支持库(如垃圾收集器)，这些库既可用于在本身不了解现代事务功能的程序中利用TM支持，也可用于在明确并行和事务性的程序中利用TM支持。该项目还考虑编程模型，重点是通过可以利用第一代事务硬件的并行开放和封闭嵌套事务来交付程序执行的纯事务模型。这项研究的结果将影响第二代TM硬件的设计，并将产生将作为开源软件分发的原型和源代码。此外，还规划了一系列广泛的教育和外联活动，包括将并行编程更深入地纳入当地社区的本科课程和活动，旨在扩大考虑科学和技术学位和职业的学生渠道。

The recent adoption of Transactional Memory (TM) in mainstream microprocessors and programming languages heralds a new era in parallel programming. Simply put, support for low-overhead speculative execution of critical sections will enable greater productivity, more straightforward designs for scalable data structures, and simplified reasoning about the correctness of programs. The full promise of TM, however, will only be realized through the development of a complete software ecosystem to enable scalable and conflict-free execution of transactions at any and all levels of the systems stack; including operating systems, language-level runtime libraries, and end-user code. The design of such an ecosystem is the focus of this research.This research explores algorithms and software systems that provide a seamless environment for transactional programming. Through a focus on both the C++ and Java languages, this project will invent both data structures and supporting libraries (such as garbage collectors) that can be used both to leverage TM support in programs that are, themselves, unaware of modern transactional features, and to exploit TM support in programs that are explicitly parallel and transactional. The project also considers programming models, with a focus on delivering a purely transactional model of program execution, via parallel open and closed-nested transactions that can exploit the first generation of transactional hardware. The outcomes of this research will influence the design of second generation TM hardware, and will result in prototypes and source code that will be distributed as open-source software. In addition, a broad array of educational and outreach activities are planned, to include deeper integration of parallel programming into undergraduate courses and activities in the local community that aim to widen the pipeline of students considering degrees and careers in science and technology.