A compiler front-end for the WOOL Parallelization library

Abstract: WOOL is a C parallelization library developed at SICS by Karl-Filip Faxén. It provides the tools for developing fine grained independent task based parallel applications. This library is distinguished from other similar projects by being really fast and light; it manages to spawn and synchronize tasks in under 20 cycles. However, all software development frameworks which expose radically new functionality to a programming language, gain a lot by having a compiler to encapsulate and implement them. WOOL does not differ from this category. This project is about the development of a source-to-source compiler for the WOOL parallelization library, supporting an extension of the C language with new syntax that implements the WOOL API, transforming it and eventually outputting GNU C code. Additionally, this compiler is augmented with a wrapper script that performs compilation to machine code by using GCC. This script is configurable and fully automatic. The main advantage gained from this project is to satisfy the need for less overhead in software development with WOOL. The simplified syntax results in faster and more economical code writing while being less errorprone. Moreover, this compiler enables the future addition of many more features not applicable with the current state of WOOL as a library.