The Common Communication Interface (CCI)

—There are many APIs for connecting and exchanging data between network peers. Each interface varies wildly based on metrics including performance, portability, and complexity. Specifically, many interfaces make design or implementation choices emphasizing some of the more desirable metrics (e.g., performance) while sacrificing others (e.g., portability). As a direct result, software developers building large, network-based applications are forced to choose a specific network API based on a complex, multi-dimensional set of criteria. Such trade-offs inevitably result in an interface that fails to deliver some desirable features. In this paper, we introduce a novel interface that both supports many features that have become standard (or otherwise generally expected) in other communication interfaces, and strives to export a small, yet powerful, interface. This new interface draws upon years of experience from network-oriented software development best practices to systems-level imp...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: HOTI
• Authors: Scott Atchley, David Dillow, Galen M. Shipman, Patrick Geoffray, Jeffrey M. Squyres, George Bosilca, Ronald Minnich
• Keywords: Distributed And Parallel Computing, HOTI 2011, Implementation Choices, Oriented Software Development, Performance Portability