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Summary: Future Generation Computer Systems 18 (2002) 317333
MPIDelphi: an MPI implementation for
visual programming environments and
heterogeneous computing
M. Acacio, O. Cánovas, J.M. Garc´ia, P.E. López-de-Teruel
Dpto. de Ingenier´ia y Tecnolog´ia de Computadores, University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, s/n 30080 Murcia, Spain
Abstract
The goal of a parallel program is to reduce the execution time, compared to the fastest sequential program solving the
same problem. Parallel programming is growing due to the widespread use of network of workstations (NOWs) or powerful
PCs in high-performance computing. Because the hardware components are all commodity devices, NOWs are much more
cost-effective than custom machines with similar technology. In this environment, the typical programming model used has
been message-passing and the MPI library has become the standard in the distributed-memory computing model. On the
other hand, visual programming environments try to simply the task of developing applications. They provide programmers
with several standard components for creating programs. Delphi constitutes one of the most popular visual programming
environments nowadays in the Windows market place. In this paper, we present MPIDelphi, an implementation of MPI for
writing parallel applications using Delphi visual programming environment. We show how MPIDelphi has been developed,
and how it makes possible to manage a cluster of homogeneous/heterogeneous PCs. Two examples of use of MPIDelphi
in a heterogeneous cluster of workstations with a mixture of Windows and Linux operating systems are also included. The
MPIDelphi interface is suitable for some specific kinds of problems, such as monitoring parallel programs of long execution
time, or computationally intensive graphical simulations. In addition, MPIDelphi has proven to be a good tool for research, as
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