Preliminary Report on Concurrent Dataflow

Language Auster
Claude Assistant
October 1, 2024

1 Introduction
This preliminary report introduces Auster, a novel concurrent dataflow pro-
gramming language designed to merge the concepts of Lucid, Go, and functional
programming paradigms. Auster aims to provide a powerful and expressive en-
vironment for numerical computation, parallel processing, and dataflow-oriented
programming.

2 Language Overview
Auster is founded on the principles of dataflow programming, as exemplified
by Wadge and Ashcroft’s Lucid language. It incorporates concurrent program-
ming features inspired by Go, functional programming concepts, and a strong
emphasis on parallel numerical computation. The language is designed to be
compiled to various targets, including vector-enabled architectures like SSE4,
AVX2, and AVX512 for x86-64, as well as Aarch64 with vector extensions and
NVIDIA’s assembly language.
Key features of Auster include:

• Dataflow-oriented syntax and semantics

• Concurrent programming with channels and lightweight processes

• Functional purity with monadic side-effects

• Rich syntax for expressing parallel computations
• Strong type system

• No explicit memory management

• Emphasis on numerical computation

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3 Syntax
The syntax of Auster is designed to be expressive yet readable, combining
elements from Lucid, Go, and functional programming languages. Here’s a
BNF grammar for the core syntax of Auster:
<program> ::= <statement>*
<statement> ::= <definition> | <expression>
<definition> ::= <identifier> ”=” <expression> [”where” <where-clause>
”end”]
<where-clause> ::= <definition>*
<expression> ::= <literal> | <identifier> | <binary-operation> | <function-
call> | <if-expression> | <match-expression> | <fby-expression> | <channel-
operation> | <spawn-expression> | <sync-expression> | <list-comprehension>
<literal> ::= <number> | <string> | <boolean>
<binary-operation> ::= <expression> <operator> <expression>
<operator> ::= ”+” | ”-” | ”*” | ”/” | ”==” | ”!=” | ”<” | ”>” | ”<=” |
”>=”
<function-call> ::= <identifier> ”(” <expression> ”,” <expression>* ”)”
<if-expression> ::= ”if” <expression> ”then” <expression> ”else” <expres-
sion>
<match-expression> ::= ”match” <expression> ”with” <pattern> ”->”
<expression>+ ”end”
<fby-expression> ::= <expression> ”fby” <expression>
<channel-operation> ::= ”makec hannel””(” < type > [”, ” < number >
]”)”|”send””(” < identif ier > ”, ” < expression > ”)”| < identif ier > ”?”
<spawn-expression> ::= ”spawn” <expression>
<sync-expression> ::= ”sync” <expression>
<list-comprehension> ::= ”[” <expression> ”for” <identifier> ”in” <ex-
pression> ”where” <expression>? ”]”
<type> ::= ”int” | ”float” | ”bool” | ”string” | ”list” ”of” <type> | ”channel”
”of” <type> | ”vector” ”<” <type> ”,” <number> ”>”
<pattern> ::= <literal> | <identifier> | ””

4 Normative Examples
The following examples demonstrate the key features and syntax of Auster.
These examples serve as a reference for understanding the language’s capabilities
and idioms.

4.1 Basic Definitions and Expressions

Listing 1: Example 1: Variable definition

x = 5 where
x : int
end

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 Listing 2: Example 2: Arithmetic expressions
r e s u l t = (10 + 20) ∗ 3 / 2

Listing 3: Example 3: Boolean expressions

i s _ v a l i d = ( age >= 1 8 ) and ( c o u n t r y == ”USA” )

4.2 Sequences and Dataflow

Listing 4: Example 4: Natural numbers sequence

n a t u r a l s = 0 fby ( n a t u r a l s + 1)

Listing 5: Example 5: Fibonacci sequence

f i b = 0 f b y 1 f b y ( f i b + next f i b ) where
next X i s X[ t +1]
end

Listing 6: Example 6: Factorial sequence

f a c t = 1 fby ( f a c t ∗ ( n a t u r a l s + 1))

4.3 Functions

Listing 7: Example 7: Simple function definition

d o u b l e ( x ) = x ∗ 2 where
x : int
end

Listing 8: Example 8: Higher-order function

map( f , l s t ) =
i f is_empty ( l s t ) then [ ]
e l s e f ( head ( l s t ) ) f b y map( f , t a i l ( l s t ) )
end

Listing 9: Example 9: Recursive function

f a c t o r i a l ( n ) = match n with
0 −> 1
n −> n ∗ f a c t o r i a l ( n − 1 )
end

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4.4 Concurrency and Channels

Listing 10: Example 10: Channel creation

ch = make_channel ( i n t , 1 0 ) // B u f f e r e d c h a n n e l o f i n t e g e r s

Listing 11: Example 11: Sending and receiving

send ( ch , 4 2 )
r e c e i v e d = ch ?

Listing 12: Example 12: Parallel sum using channels

p a r a l l e l _ s u m ( ch ) where
ch : c h a n n e l o f i n t
r e s u l t = 0 f b y ( r e s u l t + ch ? )
t e r m i n a t o r = f a l s e f b y ch . c l o s e d ?
end

4.5 Dataflow Graphs

Listing 13: Example 13: Simple dataflow graph

graph multiply_add where
input a , b , c : f l o a t
output r e s u l t : f l o a t

pr o d u c t = a ∗ b
r e s u l t = p ro d u c t + c
end

Listing 14: Example 14: Complex dataflow graph

graph s i g n a l _ p r o c e s s i n g where
input s i g n a l : l i s t of f l o a t
output p r o c e s s e d : l i s t o f f l o a t

f i l t e r e d = low_pass_filter ( signal )
a m p l i f i e d = map( lambda x : x ∗ 2 . 5 , f i l t e r e d )
processed = high_pass_filter ( amplified )
end

4.6 Monadic Side Effects

Listing 15: Example 15: Simple I/O operation

print_number = do

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 n <− get_input ( )
p u t _ l i n e ( ” The number i s : ” ++ t o _ s t r i n g ( n ) )
end

Listing 16: Example 16: File reading with error handling

r e a d _ f i l e = do
c o n t e n t s <− t r y _ r e a d _ f i l e ( ” data . t x t ” )
match c o n t e n t s with
Some ( data ) −> p u t _ l i n e ( ” F i l e c o n t e n t s : ” ++ data )
None −> p u t _ l i n e ( ” E r r o r : Could not r e a d f i l e ” )
end
end

4.7 Pattern Matching

Listing 17: Example 17: Simple pattern matching

describe_number ( x ) = match x with
0 −> ” z e r o ”
1 −> ” one ”
2 −> ” two ”
_ −> ”many”
end

Listing 18: Example 18: Pattern matching with guards

c l a s s i f y _ t e m p e r a t u r e ( temp ) = match temp with
t where t < 0 −> ” f r e e z i n g ”
t where t < 10 −> ” c o l d ”
t where t < 20 −> ” mild ”
t where t < 30 −> ”warm”
_ −> ” hot ”
end

4.8 List Comprehensions

Listing 19: Example 19: Simple list comprehension

squares = [ x ∗ x for x in 1 . . 1 0 ]

Listing 20: Example 20: List comprehension with condition

even_squares = [ x ∗ x f o r x i n 1 . . 2 0 where x % 2 == 0 ]

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4.9 Parallel Operations

Listing 21: Example 21: Parallel map

parallel_map ( f , l s t ) =
[ spawn f ( x ) f o r x i n l s t ] >> sync

Listing 22: Example 22: Parallel merge sort

merge_sort ( l s t ) where
l s t : l i s t of int

i f l e n g t h ( l s t ) <= 1 then l s t
else
mid = l e n g t h ( l s t ) / 2
l e f t = spawn merge_sort ( l s t [ 0 : mid ] )
r i g h t = spawn merge_sort ( l s t [ mid : ] )
merge ( sync l e f t , sync r i g h t )
end

4.10 Vector Operations

Listing 23: Example 23: Vector addition

vector_add ( a , b ) where
a , b : v e c t o r <f l o a t , 4>
r e s u l t : v e c t o r <f l o a t , 4>

r e s u l t = simd_add ( a , b )
end

Listing 24: Example 24: Vector dot product

dot_product ( a , b ) where
a , b : v e c t o r <f l o a t , 4>
result : float

pr o d u c t = simd_multiply ( a , b )
r e s u l t = simd_sum ( p ro d u c t )
end

4.11 Lazy Evaluation

Listing 25: Example 25: Lazy list definition

l a z y _ l i s t = 1 : : {2 ∗ l a z y _ l i s t } // D e f i n e s 1 , 2 , 4 , 8 , 1 6 , . . .

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 Listing 26: Example 26: Lazy Fibonacci sequence
lazy_fib = {
0 : : 1 : : [ a + b f or (a , b) in zip ( lazy_fib , t a i l ( lazy_fib ) ) ]
}

4.12 Temporal Logic

Listing 27: Example 27: Simple temporal assertion

a s s e r t always ( x > 0 ) where
x = input_stream ( )
end

Listing 28: Example 28: Complex temporal property

v e r i f y _ r e s p o n s e _ t i m e ( system ) where
a s s e r t f o r a l l ( r e q u e s t , e v e n t u a l l y ( r e s p o n s e _ t i m e ( r e q u e s t ) < 100ms ) )
end

4.13 Error Handling

Listing 29: Example 29: Maybe monad for division

safe_divide (x , y) =
i f y == 0 then None
e l s e Some ( x / y )

Listing 30: Example 30: Result type for error handling

parse_json ( input ) =
try
Ok( j s o n _ p a r s e ( i n p u t ) )
c a t c h P a r s e E r r o r ( msg )
Err ( ” F a i l e d t o p a r s e JSON : ” ++ msg )
end

4.14 Metaprogramming

Listing 31: Example 31: Simple macro definition

macro r e p e a t ( n , expr ) =
[ expr f o r _ i n 1 . . n ]
end

usage = repeat (3 , ” Hello ”) // Expands t o [ ” H e l l o ” , ” H e l l o ” , ” H e l l o ” ]

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 Listing 32: Example 32: Code generation
g e n e r a t e _ v e c t o r _ o p s ( op , s i z e ) =
” vector_ ” ++ op ++ ” ( a , b ) where
a , b : v e c t o r <f l o a t , ” ++ t o _ s t r i n g ( s i z e ) ++ ”>
r e s u l t : v e c t o r <f l o a t , ” ++ t o _ s t r i n g ( s i z e ) ++ ”>

r e s u l t = simd_” ++ op ++ ” ( a , b )
end ”
end

vec tor _m ult ip ly_ 4 = e v a l ( g e n e r a t e _ v e c t o r _ o p s ( ” m u l t i p l y ” , 4 ) )

4.15 Type System

Listing 33: Example 33: Algebraic data type

type Tree a =
| Leaf
| Node ( Tree a , a , Tree a )

Listing 34: Example 34: Type class (interface)

i n t e r f a c e Monoid a where
empty : a
combine : ( a , a ) −> a

implement Monoid f o r i n t where

empty = 0
combine ( x , y ) = x + y
end

4.16 Module System

Listing 35: Example 35: Module definition and usage

module Math where
pi = 3.14159265359

square (x) = x ∗ x

circle_area ( radius ) = pi ∗ square ( radius )

end

import Math

a r e a = Math . c i r c l e _ a r e a ( 5 )

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5 Conclusion
This preliminary report introduces Auster, a concurrent dataflow program-
ming language that combines concepts from Lucid, Go, and functional pro-
gramming paradigms. The language’s syntax and semantics are designed to
support expressive, parallel, and numerically-focused computation.
The examples provided demonstrate Auster’s capabilities in areas such as
basic arithmetic, sequence generation, function definition, concurrency, dataflow
graphs, monadic side effects, pattern matching, list comprehensions, parallel
operations, vector operations, lazy evaluation, temporal logic, error handling,
metaprogramming, and module systems.
As Auster continues to evolve, future work will focus on refining the type
system, optimizing the compiler for various target architectures, and expand-
ing the standard library to support a wide range of numerical and scientific
computing tasks.