Image and video codecs are prevalent in multimedia applications, ranging from embedded systems, to desktop computers, to high-end servers such as HDTV editing consoles. It is not uncommon however for developers create (from scratch) and customize their codec implementations for each of the architecture targets they intend their coders and decoders to run on. This practice is time consuming and error prone, leading to code that is not malleable or portable. In this paper we describe an implementation of the MPEG-2 codec using the StreamIt programming language. StreamIt is an architecture independent stream language that aims to improve programmer productivity, while concomitantly exposing the inherent parallelism and communication topology of the application. We describe why MPEG is a good match for the streaming programming model, and illustrate the malleability of the implementation using a simple modification to the decoder to support alternate color compression formats. StreamIt allows for modular application development, which also reduces the complexity of the debugging process since stream components can be verified independently. This in turn leads to greater programmer productivity. We implement a fully functional MPEG-2 decoder in StreamIt. The decoder was developed in eight weeks by a single student programmer who did not have any prior experience with MPEG or other video codecs. Many of the MPEG-2 components were subsequently reused to assemble a JPEG codec. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

<p>This thesis concludes the evaluation of a new high level programming language for stream applications, StreamBits. The goal with the project is to evaluate the programmability, with the focus on expressing machine-independent parallelism and bit-level computations in StreamBits. As of now, the programming language is prototyped in a Java framework. This project also involves improvement and expansion of this framework.</p><p>An examination of the framework was conducted. The conclusions of this examination was the foundation of the changes implemented in the framework during the improvement and expansion part of this project. Evaluation experiments were done using the improved version of the framework. The evaluation was based on a comparison of programs implemented in StreamBits and another programming language typically used by industry for this kind of applications. The focus of the evaluation was to evaluate how well the new data-types and stream constructs of StreamBits can be used and expressed compared to other languages.</p><p>The results are partly the improvements and expansion of the framework, partly the results of the tests conducted during the evaluation. Results show that the new data-types and stream constructs of StreamBits are valuable additions to a stream programming language. The data-types and stream constructs assists the programmer to write source code that is not closely bound to a specific architecture.</p>

This thesis concludes the evaluation of a new high level programming language for stream applications, StreamBits. The goal with the project is to evaluate the programmability, with the focus on expressing machine-independent parallelism and bit-level computations in StreamBits. As of now, the programming language is prototyped in a Java framework. This project also involves improvement and expansion of this framework. An examination of the framework was conducted. The conclusions of this examination was the foundation of the changes implemented in the framework during the improvement and expansion part of this project. Evaluation experiments were done using the improved version of the framework. The evaluation was based on a comparison of programs implemented in StreamBits and another programming language typically used by industry for this kind of applications. The focus of the evaluation was to evaluate how well the new data-types and stream constructs of StreamBits can be used and expressed compared to other languages. The results are partly the improvements and expansion of the framework, partly the results of the tests conducted during the evaluation. Results show that the new data-types and stream constructs of StreamBits are valuable additions to a stream programming language. The data-types and stream constructs assists the programmer to write source code that is not closely bound to a specific architecture.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第22693号 / 医博第4637号 / 新制||医||1045(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 高橋 淳, 教授 林 康紀, 教授 伊佐 正 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM