saini@PRANDTL.NAS.NASA.GOV (Subhash Saini) (07/15/90)
I would like to join the list. Thanks Dr. Subhash Saini Computer Scientist Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation NASA Ames Research Center Mailstop 258-6 Moffet Field CA 94035-1000 Phone: 415-604-4343 :.
lewis@MIST.CS.ORST.EDU ("Theodore G. Lewis") (07/16/90)
Anyone on the list wishing to receive technical reports on our work to generate STRAND'88 source code and C bindings from our parallel program support environment CASE tools please send me a mailing address. These tools are still under development, but let me explain them very briefly: 1. Parallax is a CASE-like tool that permits a designer to draw the design of a parallel program on the screen using the mouse. This diagram consists of a functional level data flow diagram which connects functions to one another through typed data ports. The diagrams are hierarchical, so they can be used to represent rather large systems. 2. The Parallax design can be transformed ( flattened ) into a task graph which is a directed acyclic graph representing the parallel tasks to be performed. Each task can be implemented as a C function which appears to be a stand-alone serial peice of code, but in the larger picture, this is the smallest grain of parallelism in your application. In a later step, STRAND'88 glue code will be wrapped around these functions to implement message passing and parallel execution of the C functions. 3. The flattened task graph is fed into a tool we call Task Grapher, or TG for short. TG also allows the designer to specify a target machine topology such as a hypercube, mesh, tree, or fully connected collection of processors. TG then allows the designer to map the task graph onto the selected target machine topologies in a number of ways ( currently we suppoort 7 algorithms ). The output of this mapping is a Gantt Chart schedule telling how to run the code. Other displays are Speedup graph, Animation in Simulated time, and various bar charts showing processor utilization, and efficiency. The beauty of TG is the ability to ask "what if..." questions and experiment with your design before coding it. 4. Task Grapher and Parallax files can next be fed into SuperGlue, which is a code synthesizer. SuperGlue gnerates a STRAND'88 program along with a MAKE file to be used to complie and link the C functions into the STRAND'88 program. 5. EPA = Execution Profile Analyzer. When the application runs and produces timing results, the EPA is used to feedback this information to the designer so that tuning can be done. These programs are still buggy and in prototype stage, but will soon be available to researchers under a restriction that they not be commercialized by you. They run on a Macintosh so can be used by almost anyone. Let me know if you want the tech reports.... --Ted Lewis Oregon State University Research Director, Oregon Advanced Computing Institute