Using shared arrays in message-driven parallel programs

  • Authors:
  • Phil Miller;Aaron Becker;Laxmikant Kalé

  • Affiliations:
  • Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA;Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA;Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

  • Venue:
  • Parallel Computing
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

This paper describes a safe and efficient combination of the object-based message-driven execution and shared array parallel programming models. In particular, we demonstrate how this combination engenders the composition of loosely coupled parallel modules safely accessing a common shared array. That loose coupling enables both better flexibility in parallel execution and greater ease of implementing multi-physics simulations. As a case study, we describe how the parallelization of a new method for molecular dynamics simulation benefits from both of these advantages. We also describe a system of typed handle objects that embed some of the determinacy constraints of the Multiphase Shared Array programming model in the C++ type system, to catch some violations at compile time. The combined programming model communicates in terms of these handles as a natural means of detecting and preventing errors.