Abstract

Several authors have proposed the use of algorithmic skeletons as a highlevel, machine-independent means of developing parallel programs. This paper addresses the question of modelling the performance of such skeletons. The execution time for a skeleton is presented as a generic higher order complexity function. Instantiation of the skeletion with a specific set of functional parameters enables the time complexity of the particular application to be derived. The approach is illustrated by examples based on existing special purpose languages for image processing, and is extended to analyse the scalability of skeleton-based applications, using isoefficiency functions. 1. Introduction Parallel programming is widely regarded as a complex, machine-dependent and timeconsuming task. This perceived difficulty has hindered the more widespread use of parallel computer systems. Several high-level parallel programming approaches have arisen to meet this challenge, such as [1, 2]. These abstract f...

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