A language and development environment for parallel particle methods

We present the Parallel Particle-Mesh Environment (PPME), a domain-specific language (DSL) and development environment for numerical simulations using particles and hybrid particle-mesh methods. PPME is the successor of the Parallel Particle-Mesh Language (PPML), a Fortran-based DSL that provides high-level abstrac- tions for the development of distributed-memory particle-mesh simulations. On top of PPML, PPME provides a complete development environment for particle-based simu- lations usin state-of-the-art language engineering and compiler construction techniques. Relying on a novel domain metamodel and formal type system for particle methods, it enables advanced static code correctness checks at the level of particle abstractions, com- plementing the low-level analysis of the compiler. Furthermore, PPME adopts Herbie for improving the accuracy of floating-point expressions and supports a convenient high-level mathematical notation for equations and differential operators. For demonstration purposes, we discuss an example from Discrete Element Methods (DEM) using the classic Silbert model to simulate granular flows

A Domain-Specific Language and Editor for Parallel Particle Methods

Domain-specific languages (DSLs) are of increasing importance in scientific high-performance computing to reduce development costs, raise the level of abstraction and, thus, ease scientific programming. However, designing and implementing DSLs is not an easy task, as it requires knowledge of the application domain and experience in language engineering and compilers. Consequently, many DSLs follow a weak approach using macros or text generators, which lack many of the features that make a DSL a comfortable for programmers. Some of these features---e.g., syntax highlighting, type inference, error reporting, and code completion---are easily provided by language workbenches, which combine language engineering techniques and tools in a common ecosystem. In this paper, we present the Parallel Particle-Mesh Environment (PPME), a DSL and development environment for numerical simulations based on particle methods and hybrid particle-mesh methods. PPME uses the meta programming system (MPS), a projectional language workbench. PPME is the successor of the Parallel Particle-Mesh Language (PPML), a Fortran-based DSL that used conventional implementation strategies. We analyze and compare both languages and demonstrate how the programmer's experience can be improved using static analyses and projectional editing. Furthermore, we present an explicit domain model for particle abstractions and the first formal type system for particle methods.Comment: Submitted to ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software on Dec. 25, 201