Incorporating Dynamic Communication Patterns in a Static Dataflow Notation

Abstract

Charisma is a higher-level notation for writing parallel static data flow programs. It provides a convenient publish-consume paradigm for the expression of static flows of data and control. Although the syntax of the language allows the elegant expression of an important class of programs, it is restrictive, in that not all types of static data flow program can be written in Charisma. In this paper, we discuss a new incarnation of the language. Charisma 2.0 has been designed to expand the expressive scope of the language, while retaining the productivity benefits of the publish-consume paradigm and a simple semantics of execution. We also examine the syntactic and semantic constructs of Charisma 2.0, and how they enhance expressivity.