computer science

X10 (programming language)

X10 (programming language) is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand X10 (programming language) rather than just read about it. In short: X10 is a programming language being developed by IBM at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center as part of the Productive, Easy-to-use, Reliable Computing System (PERCS) project funded by DARPA's High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) program.

Key takeaways

X10 (programming language) belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect X10 (programming language) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of X10 (programming language) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

X10 is a programming language being developed by IBM at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center as part of the Productive, Easy-to-use, Reliable Computing System (PERCS) project funded by DARPA's High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) program.

History Its primary authors are Kemal Ebcioğlu, Saravanan Arumugam (Aswath), Vijay Saraswat, and Vivek Sarkar. X10 is designed specifically for parallel computing using the partitioned global address space (PGAS) model. A computation is divided among a set of places, each of which holds some data and hosts one or more activities that operate on those data. It has a constrained type system for object-oriented programming, a form of dependent types. Other features include user-defined primitive struct types; globally distributed arrays, and structured and unstructured parallelism. X10 uses the concept of parent and child relationships for activities to prevent the lock stalemate that can occur when two or more processes wait for each other to finish before they can complete. An activity may spawn one or more child activities, which may themselves have children. Children cannot wait for a parent to finish, but a parent can wait for a child using the finish command.

Example code

Hello, World! An X10 "Hello, World!" program:

See also Chapel Coarray Fortran Concurrency Fortress Non-blocking algorithm Parallel programming model Unified Parallel C

References

External links Official website Overview of PGAS languages Vivek Sarkar's X10 slides GPLed X10 prototype

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with X10 (programming language)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what X10 (programming language) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to X10 (programming language) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about X10 (programming language) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of X10 (programming language)

In research: X10 (programming language) appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses X10 (programming language) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: X10 (programming language) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Array programming languages, Concurrent programming languages, IBM software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for X10 (programming language) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study X10 (programming language) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what X10 (programming language) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain X10 (programming language) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is X10 (programming language) in simple terms?

Why does X10 (programming language) matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study X10 (programming language)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on X10 (programming language).