SPL: A language and compiler for DSP algorithms

We discuss the design and implementation of a compiler that translates formulas representing signal processing transforms into efficient C or Fortran programs. The formulas are represented in a language that we call SPL, an acronym from Signal Processing Language. The compiler is a component of the SPIRAL system which makes use of formula transformations and intelligent search strategies to automatically generate optimized digital signal processing (DSP) libraries. After a discussion of the translation and optimization techniques implemented in the compiler, we use SPL formulations of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) to evaluate the compiler. Our results show that SPIRAL, which can be used to implement many classes of algorithms, produces programs that perform as well as "hard-wired" systems like FFTW.