On the Utility of Threads for Data Parallel Programming

Threads provide a useful programming model for asynchronous behavior because of their ability to encapsulate units of work that can then be scheduled for execution at runtime, based on the dynamic state of a system. Recently, the threaded model has been applied to the domain of data parallel scientic codes, and initial reports indicate that the threaded model can produce performance gains over non-threaded approaches, primarily through the use of overlapping useful computation with communication latency. However, overlapping computation with communication is possible without the benet of threads if the communication system supports asynchronous primitives,and this comparison has not been made in previous papers. This paper provides a critical look at the utility of lightweight threads as applied to data parallel scientic programming.  Research supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under NASA Contract No. NASA

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1995
• Where: ICS
• Authors: Thomas Fahringer, Matthew Haines, Piyush Mehrotra
• Keywords: Data Parallel Scienti, Distributed And Parallel Computing, ICS 1995, Threaded Model, Useful Programming Model