The Autonomous Data Language -- Concepts, Design and Formal Verification
Abstract
Nowadays, the main advances in computational power are due to parallelism. However, most parallel languages have been designed with a focus on processors and threads. This makes dealing with data and memory in programs hard, which distances the implementation from its original algorithm. We propose a new paradigm for parallel programming, the data-autonomous paradigm, where computation is performed by autonomous data elements. Programs in this paradigm are focused on making the data collaborate in a highly parallel fashion. We furthermore present AuDaLa, the first data autonomous programming language, and provide a full formalisation that includes a type system and operational semantics. Programming in AuDaLa is very natural, as illustrated by examples, albeit in a style very different from sequential and contemporary parallel programming. Additionally, it lends itself for the formal verification of parallel programs, which we demonstrate.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2506.19457,
title = {The Autonomous Data Language -- Concepts, Design and Formal Verification},
author = {Tom T. P. Franken and Thomas Neele and Jan Friso Groote},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.19457},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
48 pages, preprint submitted to Elsevier