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Abstract: Scientific High Performance Computing with Ada95 has become a reality: on 12-Feb-1997 Ada95 has for the first time - with resounding success - been used in scientific supercomputing. A code developed by myself and capable of synthesising the integrated polarised spectrum of a rotating magnetic star (the so-called Oblique Rotator) has executed in parallel on several processors of a Silicon Graphics Power Challenge XL symmetric multiprocessing server. Task synchronisation is done by means of protected objects. Distribution over the different processors proved straightforward with the GNAT compiler pragmas. Code speedup scales linearly with the number of processors. For the calculation of stellar spectra over large wavelength intervals and of stellar atmospheres the Ada tasking model is demonstrably much better suited than High Performance Fortran, but also in many other (astro)physical problems Ada tasking offers great advantages.
Author: Martin J. Stift (stift@astro.ast.univie.ac.at), Institut fuer Astronomie, Tuerkenschanzstr. 17, A-1180 Wien, Austria; Tel: 43-1-4706800/35; FAX: 43-1-4706800/35