Source : WordNet®

sisal
     n 1: a plant fiber used for making rope [syn: {sisal hemp}]
     2: Mexican or West Indian plant with large fleshy leaves
        yielding a stiff fiber used in e.g. rope [syn: {Agave
        sisalana}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

SISAL
     
        Streams and Iteration in a Single Assignment Language.
     
        A general-purpose {single assignment} {functional programming
        language} with {strict} semantics, automatic parallelisation
        and efficient {array}s.  Outputs a dataflow graph in {IF1}
        (Intermediary Form 1).  Derived from {VAL}, adds {recursion}
        and finite {stream}s.  {Pascal}-like syntax.  Designed to be a
        common high-level language for numerical programs on a variety
        of {multiprocessor}s.
     
        Implementations exist for {Cray X-MP}, {Cray Y-MP}, {Cray-2},
        {Sequent}, {Encore Alliant}, {dataflow} architectures,
        {transputer}s and {systolic array}s.
     
        Defined in 1983 by James McGraw et al, {Manchester
        University}, {Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory},
        {Colorado State University} and {DEC}.  Revised in 1985.
        First compiled implementation in 1986.  Performance superior
        to {C} and competitive with {Fortran}, combined with efficient
        and automatic parallelisation.
     
        Not to be confused with {SASL}.
     
        E-mail: John Feo , Rod Oldehoeft
        .
     
        David C. Cann has written an {Optimising SISAL Compiler
        (ftp://sisal.llnl.gov/pub/sisal)} (OSC) which attempts to make
        efficient use of {parallel processors} such as {Crays}.
     
        Latest version: 12.0, SISAL 1.2.
     
        ["A Report on the SISAL Language Project", J.T. Feo et al, J
        Parallel and Distrib Computing 10(4):349-366 (Dec 1990)].
     
        (2000-07-07)