Purpose

The front end consists of a binary file, compiled from C++ sources, and a Tcl-script which is loaded at run time. It gives the user control over how and when to run LooPo modules. A LooPo session starts with selecting a source file which is automatically passed on to the scanner/parser module. The selection can be made by choosing the entry ``Set project name...'' in the File menu. The status of currently set options may be saved via another entry of the File menu and is from then on being loaded at startup time. The options are saved in ~/.looporc. The next menu is called Options containing several windows to select module-specific options, which are described in the respective module sections.

Below the menu bar the user finds buttons to invoke modules. The required order is from left to right, with the following exceptions:

• The dispo and filter module may be called after a successful run of the dependence module.
• The allocator may be called before the scheduler.
• The allocator may be skipped in the case of the Lamport's scheduling method (which integrates an allocation method; cf. Section 3.4).

Feedback about the modules computations, possible errors and finally the report of their completion are displayed in the log at the bottom of LooPo's main window. More detailed information appears in special output windows which are displayed after the modules completion, whether successful or not. The general options window offers a choice of whether the output windows should start iconified or not.

Of the middle area of the main window, the left part contains the source program, the right part the parallelized target program after a successful run of the targout module.

In addition to the front end binary, some object files are collected in the so-called dialogs library, which is linked to most other modules and provides C++ classes for help- and error-dialog boxes and defines the interface for communication via the FIFO.

A detailed description of the front end can be found in [Ell95] (text in German).