TOP-C (Task Oriented Parallel C/C++)

A Package for Easily Writing Parallel Applications

for both Distributed and Shared Memory Architectures

Version 2.4.0, October, 2001

• `TOP-C' Copying Conditions
• Quick Start: Installation and Test Run
• Overview of `TOP-C/C++'
  • Programmer's Model
    • Structure of a TOP-C Program
    • Four Callback Functions
    • Task Input and Task Output Buffers
    • The `TOP-C' Algorithm
  • Three Key Concepts for TOP-C
  • Distributed and Shared Memory Models
• Writing `TOP-C' Applications
  • The Main TOP-C Library Calls
  • Callback Functions for TOPC_master_slave()
  • Actions Returned by CheckTaskResult()
  • TOP-C Utilities
• Compiling and Invoking `TOP-C' Applications
  • Compiling TOP-C Applications
  • Command Line Options in TOP-C Applications
  • Invoking a TOP-C Application in Sequential Memory
  • Invoking a TOP-C Application in Distributed Memory
    • Writing Procgroup Files for `MPINU'
    • If Slaves Fail to Start
  • Invoking a TOP-C Application in Shared Memory
• Debugging and Tracing
  • Debugging by Limiting the Parallelism
  • Debugging with `--TOPC-safety'
  • Tracing Messages
  • Stepping Through a Slave Process with `gdb'
  • Segmentation faults and other memory problems
• Performance and Long Jobs
  • Strategies for Greater Concurrency
  • Improving Performance
  • Long Jobs and Courtesy to Others
• Advanced Features of `TOP-C'
  • Testing for Task Continuations and Redos
  • Aborting Tasks
  • Memory Allocation for Task Buffers
    • Avoiding malloc and new with Task Buffers
    • Using TOPC_MSG_PTR() to Avoid Copying Large Buffers
    • Allocation and Freeing of Task Buffers for TOPC_MSG_PTR()
    • Marshaling Complex Data Structures into `TOP-C' Task Buffers
  • Optimizing TOP-C Code for the Shared Memory Model
    • Reader-Writer Synchronization
    • Thread-Private Global Variables
    • Sharing Variables between Master and Slave and Volatile Variables
    • SMP Performance
  • Modifying TOP-C Code for the Sequential Memory Model
  • Caveats
• `TOP-C' Raw Interface for Parallelizing Sequential Code
  • `TOP-C' raw functions
  • Parallelizing `for' Loops
  • Parallelizing `while' Loops
• Acknowledgements
• Summary of `TOP-C' Commands
• Example `TOP-C' Application
• Configuring a Different `MPI'
• Function Index
• Variable Index
• Concept Index

This document was generated on 13 October 2001 using the texi2html translator version 1.51.