Converting scientific software to multiprocessors: a case study
This paper examines the process and problems involved in converting an application to make use of these machines. A set of Fortran routines forming an ordinary differential equation solving software package is used as the subject of the work. A set of explicit primitives for concurrent programming, the Cray multitasking primitives, is used as the method for exploiting concurrency on a Cray X-MP/48 supercomputer. Data analysis is discussed as a useful technique in the conversion, and the tools available within the supercomputing environment are examined for their usefulness in performing the data analysis. Two conversions are performed on the software package. First, to allow multiple problems to execute concurrently, and second, to exploit parallelism within each individual problem. The problems involved in each of these conversions are presented with their considered solutions. Performance measurements are presented for each conversion performed. The data analysis procedure was found too complex and time consuming to perform without appropriate tools. More work than expected was required to produce the first conversion. Finally, the largest source of problems is the lack of sufficient support for multiprocessing from the Fortran language. 31 refs., 14 figs.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 5441273
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-53751; ON: DE86014751
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CRAY COMPUTERS
PROGRAMMING
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
L CODES
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
COMPUTER CODES
CONVERSION
DATA ANALYSIS
FORTRAN
PARALLEL PROCESSING
PERFORMANCE
SUPERCOMPUTERS
COMPUTERS
DIGITAL COMPUTERS
EQUATIONS
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
990200* - Mathematics & Computers
658000 - Mathematical Physics- (-1987)