62714434
Experience with parallel programming using code templates
For almost a decade we have been working at developing and using template-based models for parallel computing. Template-based models separate the speci cation of the parallel structuring aspects from the application code that is to be parallelized. A user provides the application code and speci es the parallel structure of the application using high-level icons, called templates. The parallel programming system then generates the code necessary for parallelizing the application. The goal here is to provide a mechanism for quick and reliable development of coarse-grain parallel applications that employ frequently occurring parallel structures. Our initial template-based system, FrameWorks, was positively received but had a number of shortcomings. The Enterprise parallel programming environment evolved out of this work. Now, after several years of experience with the system, its shortcomings are becoming evident. Controlled experiments have been conducted to assess the usability of our system in comparison with other systems. This paper outlines our experiences in developing and using these systems. A list of desirable characteristics of template-based models is given. FrameWorks and Enterprise systems are discussed in the context of these characteristics and the results of our usability experiments. Many of our observations are relevant to other parallel programming systems, even though they may be based on di erent assumptions. Although template-base models have the potential for simplifying the complexities of parallel programming, they have yet to realize these expectations for high-performance applications.
42022872
Template Directed Development of Web-Based Information Systems
5517060
Structuring Distributed Algorithms in a Workstation Environment: The FrameWorks Approach
30084488
Design Patterns for Parallel Programming
42975476
An Integrated Performance Analysis Tool for SPMD Data-Parallel Programs
Abstract A new generation of data parallel languages have been proposed whereby a user specifies how data structures are to be distributed amongst the processor nodes of a distributed-memory machine. Based on this information, the compiler then generates code for the parallel application. Although this approach significantly simplifies the development of the initial version of a parallel application, selection of good data distributions leading to efficient computations is often quite difficult. Therefore, performance debuggers are needed to yield insights into the data distribution effects. On the other hand, most of the existing approaches to performance debugging are very general and thus do not provide the user feedback in terms of the high level programming model or the source code of the parallel application. In this paper, we describe a novel approach to performance debugging of data parallel programs. The design and implementation of a visual performance debugger is described that is specifically targeted to meet the performance debugging requirements of a data-parallel programming model based on user-specified data distributions. The performance debugger is part of an integrated programming environment, called EPPP, which also supports a data parallel compiler and a parallel architecture simulator. Thus development and performance debugging of an application may be done either on the real hardware or by using the simulator. The code for EPPP can be obtained free of cost (contact web address, http://www.crim.ca/apar).
28610861
A User Level, Reliable, and Reconfigurable Transport Layer Protocol
It is well known that TCP is not suitable for a number of environments such as wireless, satellite, and long-fat-pipe networks. At the same time, there is no other single transport protocol that would outperform TCP in all situations. In this paper, we explore an alternative transport layer protocol that is more suitable for today’s mobile as well as other non-conventional network environments. The result is a user-level, reconfigurable, TCP-friendly (asymptotically converges to fairness as in the case of LIMD (Linear Increase Multiplicative Decrease) algorithms) transport layer protocol, called RRTP (Reliable and Reconfigurable Transport Protocol), which runs atop of UDP. We evaluate our protocol using the standard network simulation tool (ns2). Several representative network configurations are used to benchmark the performance of our protocol against TCP in terms of network throughput and congestion loss rate. It is observed that under normal operating conditions, our protocol has a performance advantage of 30% to 700% over TCP in lossy, wireless environments as well as high bandwidth, high latency networks.
9328622
Dynamic Query-Based Debugging
Program errors are hard to find because of the cause-effect gap between the time when an error occurs and the time when the error becomes apparent to the programmer. Although debugging techniques such as conditional and data breakpoints help to find error causes in simple cases, they fail to effectively bridge the cause-effect gap in many situations. Dynamic query-based debuggers offer programmers an effective tool that provides instant error alert by continuously checking inter-object relationships while the debugged program is running. To speed up dynamic query evaluation, our debugger (implemented in portable Java) uses a combination of program instrumentation, load-time code generation, query optimization, and incremental reevaluation. Experiments and a query cost model show that selection queries are efficient in most cases, while more costly join queries are practical when query evaluations are infrequent or query domains are small.
15601419
A Peer-to-Peer Reference Architecture
Peer-to-peer (P2P) applications are extremely popular on the Internet because they allow users to share information in a decentralized manner. Internet users use file-sharing applications (e.g., BitTorrent, KaZaA) to share and exchange files and collaboration applications (e.g., Jabber, Groove) to exchange chat messages and work on shared documents. A reference architecture for a domain provides an architecture template which can be used as a starting point for designing the software architecture of a system in that domain. Despite the popularity of P2P applications there is no reference architecture for the P2P domain. This paper presents a reference architecture for the P2P domain. The reference architecture has been designed to satisfy the concerns that a P2P application needs to address. The reference architecture takes a service-centric view of the P2P domain. The reference architecture can be used to describe the structure of existing P2P applications and middlewares. The paper validates the reference architecture by describing the structure of some of the existing P2P applications and middlewares using the reference architecture
9094346
Level-shifter free design of low power dual supply voltage CMOS circuits using dual threshold voltages
Usage of dual supply voltages in a digital circuit is an effective way of reducing the dynamic power consumption due to the quadratic relation of supply voltage to dynamic power consumption. But the need for level shifters when a low voltage gate drives a high voltage gate has been a limiting factor preventing widespread usage of dual supply voltages in digital circuit design. The overhead of level shifters forces designers to increase the granularity of dual voltage assignment, reducing the maximum obtainable savings. We propose a method of incorporating voltage level conversion into regular CMOS gates by using a second threshold voltage. Proposed level shifter design makes it possible to apply dual supply voltages at gate level granularity with much less overhead compared to traditional level shifters. We modify the threshold voltage of the high voltage gates that are driven by low voltage gates in order to obtain the level shifting operation together with the logic operation. Using our method, we obtained an average of 20% energy savings for ISCAS'85 benchmark circuits designed using 180-nm technology and 17% when 70-nm technology is used.
11606897
Malicious ICMP Tunneling: Defense against the Vulnerability
This paper presents a systematic solution to the problem of using ICMP tunneling for covert channel. ICMP is not multiplexed via port numbers and the data part of the ICMP packet provides considerable bandwidth for malicious covert channels. These factors make it an integral part of many malicious software like remote access and denial of service attack tools. These tools use ICMP to establish covert communication channels. In this paper a stateless model is proposed to prevent ICMP tunneling. A Linux kernel module was implemented to demonstrate the proposed stateless solution. The module enforces a fixed payload policy for ICMP packets and virtually eliminates ICMP tunneling which arises due to the data carrying capability of ICMP. The performance impact on end hosts and routers due to the stateless monitoring model is described.
6105186
Query-based debugging of object-oriented programs
Object relationships in modem software systems are becoming increasingly numerous and complex. Programmers who try to find violations of such relationships need new tools that allow them to explore objects in a large system more efficiently. Many existing debuggers present only a low-level, one-object-at-a-time view of objects and their relationships. We propose a new solution to overcome these problems: query-based debugging. The implementation of the query-based debugger described here offers programmers an effective query tool that allows efficient searching of large object spaces and quick verification of complex relationships. Even for programs that have large numbers of objects, the debugger achieves interactive response times for common queries by using a combination of fast searching primitives, query optimization, and incremental result delivery.