Dummy Decoder Example (was Re: Parallel decoding lesson for you.)

[Skybuck Flying]

Since more people might be interested in this I will re-post this a second 
time to include more newsgroups... those two threads will need to be 
followed if all responses are to be seen ;)

Here is your dummy decoder example:

Let's turn this into a somewhat of a contest and ofcourse also teaching
lesson... now I am a true teacher... I provided you with most of the code.

The code you will need to write yourself/replace is indicated by // ***

Good luck and may the force be with you !

Ofcourse as announced earlier on 29 september 2015 I will reveal my parallel
solution to all of you !

So you have now 9 days to come up with your own solution before I publish
mine ! ;) =D

For those that missed the start/most of this thread, try googling for
comp.arch and "Parallel decoding lesson for you" by Skybuck.

// Begin of Dummy Decoder Example

program TestProgram;

{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

{$R *.res}

uses
  System.SysUtils;

function Constrain( Para : integer ) : integer;
begin
result := Para;
if Para < 0 then Result := 0;
if Para >= 1 then Result := 1;
end;

procedure Main;
// must put variables here otherwise won't show up in debugger.
var
// information stream, input
Stream : array[0..20] of integer;

// bits representing fields of data
a1,a2,a3,a4 : integer;
b1,b2,b3 : integer;
c1 : integer;
d1,d2,d3,d4,d5,d6 : integer;

// output
RowIndex : integer;

RowCount : integer;
RowLength : array[0..5] of integer;
RowOffset : array[0..5] of integer;

DataOffset : integer;

FieldCount : integer;
FieldLength : array[0..3] of integer;

Processor : array[0..3] of integer;

// debug fields
FieldA : integer;
FieldB : integer;
FieldC : integer;
FieldD : integer;
begin
a1 := 1; a2 := 1; a3:= 1; a4 := 1;
b1 := 1; b2 := 1; b3 := 1;
c1 := 1;
d1 := 1; d2 := 1; d3 := 1; d4 := 1; d5 := 1; d6 := 1;

// compute input fields to compare it later with output fields
FieldA := (a1) or (a2 shl 1) or (a3 shl 2) or (a4 shl 3);
FieldB := (b1) or (b2 shl 1) or (b3 shl 2);
FieldC := (c1);
FieldD := (d1) or (d2 shl 1) or (d3 shl 2) or (d4 shl 3) or (d5 shl 4) or
(d6 shl 5);

// print field values
writeln( 'FieldD: ', FieldD );
writeln( 'FieldA: ', FieldA );
writeln( 'FieldB: ', FieldB );
writeln( 'FieldC: ', FieldC );
writeln;

// number of rows
Stream[0] := 6;

// row lengths
Stream[1] := 4;
Stream[2] := 3;
Stream[3] := 3;
Stream[4] := 2;
Stream[5] := 1;
Stream[6] := 1;

// sorted information stream:
// d1a1b1c1d2a2b2d3a3b3d4a4d5d6

// data bits
Stream[7] := d1;
Stream[8] := a1;
Stream[9] := b1;
Stream[10] := c1;
Stream[11] := d2;
Stream[12] := a2;
Stream[13] := b2;
Stream[14] := d3;
Stream[15] := a3;
Stream[16] := b3;
Stream[17] := d4;
Stream[18] := a4;
Stream[19] := d5;
Stream[20] := d6;

// now the decoding algorithm:

// determine number of rows
RowCount := Stream[0];

// extract row lengths
RowLength[0] := Stream[1];
RowLength[1] := Stream[2];
RowLength[2] := Stream[3];
RowLength[3] := Stream[4];
RowLength[4] := Stream[5];
RowLength[5] := Stream[6];

// determine field count
FieldCount := RowLength[0]; // row[0] indicates number of fields.

// I will help out a bit... by leaving this code in ! ;) seems somewhat
obvious ;)
// first determine data offset properly ! ;) :) 1 for the row count +
RowCount to skip over row lengths.
DataOffset := 1 + RowCount;

RowOffset[0] := DataOffset;
RowOffset[1] := RowOffset[0] + RowLength[0];
RowOffset[2] := RowOffset[1] + RowLength[1];
RowOffset[3] := RowOffset[2] + RowLength[2];
RowOffset[4] := RowOffset[3] + RowLength[3];
RowOffset[5] := RowOffset[4] + RowLength[4];


// some how the data bits from the stream needs to end up in these 4
processors so that it produces the same values
// as below:
// fields may be processed in a different order though.

// *** You will need to replace this code with your own code... and
preferably it should be parallel, fast and somewhat general/scalable. ***
Processor[0] := FieldD;
Processor[1] := FieldA;
Processor[2] := FieldB;
Processor[3] := FieldC;

// print processor values.
writeln( 'Processor[0]: ', Processor[0] );
writeln( 'Processor[1]: ', Processor[1] );
writeln( 'Processor[2]: ', Processor[2] );
writeln( 'Processor[3]: ', Processor[3] );
writeln;
end;

begin
try
  Main;
except
  on E: Exception do
   Writeln(E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
end;
ReadLn;
end.

// End of Dummy Decoder Example

Oh one last thing when you think you have a valid solution and/or need to
test more,

replace the initialization of the test data bits with this initialization
for example:

a1 := 1; a2 := 0; a3:= 0; a4 := 1;
b1 := 1; b2 := 1; b3 := 0;
c1 := 1;
d1 := 1; d2 := 1; d3 := 0; d4 := 0; d5 := 1; d6 := 0;

in the original posting (the one before this they were all set to 1).

This helped a bit during the development just to see if it was reading
anything at all at the somewhat correct places.

But this may later put you off if the values are not matching input vs
output.

So this test data in this posting is better to spot any inconsistencies/bugs
in your solution(s).

Bye,
  Skybuck.