25 research outputs found
Algebraic Methods in the Congested Clique
In this work, we use algebraic methods for studying distance computation and
subgraph detection tasks in the congested clique model. Specifically, we adapt
parallel matrix multiplication implementations to the congested clique,
obtaining an round matrix multiplication algorithm, where
is the exponent of matrix multiplication. In conjunction
with known techniques from centralised algorithmics, this gives significant
improvements over previous best upper bounds in the congested clique model. The
highlight results include:
-- triangle and 4-cycle counting in rounds, improving upon the
triangle detection algorithm of Dolev et al. [DISC 2012],
-- a -approximation of all-pairs shortest paths in
rounds, improving upon the -round -approximation algorithm of Nanongkai [STOC 2014], and
-- computing the girth in rounds, which is the first
non-trivial solution in this model.
In addition, we present a novel constant-round combinatorial algorithm for
detecting 4-cycles.Comment: This is work is a merger of arxiv:1412.2109 and arxiv:1412.266
Automatically Comparing Memory Consistency Models
A memory consistency model (MCM) is the part of a programming language or computer architecture specification that defines which values can legally be read from shared memory locations. Because MCMs take into account various optimisations employed by archi- tectures and compilers, they are often complex and counterintu- itive, which makes them challenging to design and to understand.
We identify four tasks involved in designing and understanding MCMs: generating conformance tests, distinguishing two MCMs, checking compiler optimisations, and checking compiler mappings. We show that all four tasks are instances of a general constraint-satisfaction problem to which the solution is either a program or a pair of programs. Although this problem is intractable for automatic solvers when phrased over programs directly, we show how to solve analogous constraints over program executions, and then construct programs that satisfy the original constraints.
Our technique, which is implemented in the Alloy modelling framework, is illustrated on several software- and architecture-level MCMs, both axiomatically and operationally defined. We automatically recreate several known results, often in a simpler form, including: distinctions between variants of the C11 MCM; a failure of the ‘SC-DRF guarantee’ in an early C11 draft; that x86 is ‘multi-copy atomic’ and Power is not; bugs in common C11 compiler optimisations; and bugs in a compiler mapping from OpenCL to AMD-style GPUs. We also use our technique to develop and validate a new MCM for NVIDIA GPUs that supports a natural mapping from OpenCL