Guppie: A Coordination Framework for Parallel Processing Using Shared Memory Featuring A Master-Worker Relationship

Most programs can be parallelized to some extent. The processing power available in computers today makes parallel computing more desirable and attainable than ever before. Many machines today have multiple processors or multiple processing cores making parallel computing more available locally, as well as over a network. In order for parallel applications to be written, they require a computing language, such as C++, and a coordination language (or library), such as Linda. This research involves the creation and implementation of a coordination framework, Guppie, which is easy to use, similar to Linda, but provides more efficiency when dealing with large amounts of messages and data. Greater efficiency can be achieved in coarse-grained parallel computing through the use of shared memory managed through a master-worker relationship

A Performance and Portability Study of Parallel Applications Using a Distributed Computing Testbed

A case study was conducted to examine the performance and portability of parallel applications, with an emphasis on data transfer among the processors in heterogeneous environments. Several parallel test programs using MPICH, a Message Passing Interface (MPI) library, and the Linda parallel environment were developed to analyze communication performance and portability. These programs implement loosely and tightly synchronized communication models in which each processor exchanges data with two other processors. This data-exchange pattern mimics communication in certain parallel applications using striped partitioning of the computational domain. Tests were performed on an isolated, distributed computing testbed, a live development network, and a symmetrical multi-processing computer system. All network configurations used asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network technologies. The testbed used in the study was a heterogeneous network consisting of various workstations and networking eq..