RE: Appeal for information ...

[J.B.W.Webber <J.B.W.Webber@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Peter,
Yes indeed the work you are doing has inspired aspects of my own work over many years.

I have been interested in multiprocessor approaches since I wrote extensions to the Apl/11 and aplc languages over the period 1970s to 1990s, and Occam and related multi-processor languages were a guide and inspiration, as were the early British Transputer systems.

Now of course, with a range of low-cost hardware approaches to multiprocessor systems becoming available, including some complete multi-processor-on-a-chip systems at under £100 pounds, it is urgent to use efficient and well conceived languages and software harnesses to get the best from them. 
At the simplest end : how should  a classroom of learners best knit their Raspberry Pis together into a multiprocessor system ?

It is to the careful work that you do at Kent that we should look for guidance. 

My company Lab-Tools has been designing with digital R.F. since the 1970s, and is now investing a quite significant effort towards switching from discrete VLSI chips and FPGAs in its NMR instrumentation, towards handling and processing the R.F. and I.F. signals using multiprocessors. The time for this, like in many other fields, has come.

So, yes, please, we need what you and those that work in this field do, urgently, well disseminated at all levels. 
Cheers,
	Dr. Beau Webber



-----Original Message-----
From: Sympa,pkg125 [mailto:sympa@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of P.H.Welch
Sent: 24 May 2013 14:37
To: java-threads@xxxxxxxxxx; occam-com@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Peter Welch
Subject: Appeal for information ...


Dear occam-com and java-threads,

This is an appeal for information.  Please would those of you who have been using any of the *ideas* and materials coming from our group at Kent:

  - the occam-pi language;
  - the KRoC compiler, libraries and CCSP multicore scheduler;
  - the libraries for Java (JCSP), C (CCSP), C++ (C++CSP) and Haskell
    (CHP) providing the CSP-occam-pi concurrency model;
  - the teaching materials for the above;
  - algorithms (e.g. for fast resolution of general choice),
    formal models (e.g. for mobile channels), architecture (e.g.
    for complex and emergent systems, operating systems, multicore
    scheduling), verification techniques (e.g. integration of model
    checking with programming language), etc.

let us know what you have been doing?  Please tell us if it has saved you (or your company/university) any time and/or money?  Please tell us if it has inspired (or is about to inspire!) aspects of your own work?
[Of course, those with whom we are in regular contact need not reply!]

The reason for this appeal will be known to UK academics.  All University departments (in all subjects) in the UK are currently being assessed in something called the "Research Excellence Framework" (REF).  20% of this assessment depends on the "Impact" of research going back to January 1993, but with the period of impact running from January 2008 to today.  The meaning of "Impact" is not fully understood ... but would certainly include use by industry of the ideas and products of research from the department and, probably, research and teaching in other universities/colleges/schools that it has triggered.

The impact of the REF will be the allocation of recurrent funding for staff across the country.  This will have a knock-on impact on the kinds of research that will be undertaken in future years.  So, if you would like us to continue doing what we have been doing ... please let us know (*soon*) what you have been doing ... and whether our work has had any positive impact!

Thank you very much,

Peter Welch.