The Topological Barrier: A Synchronization Abstraction for Regularly-Structured Parallel Applications.

Abstract

Barriers are a simple, widely-used technique for synchronization in parallel applications. In regularly-structured programs, however, barriers can overly-constrain execution by forcing synchronization among processes that do not really share data. The topological barrier preserves the simplicity of traditional barriers while performing the minimum amount of synchronization actually required by the application. Topological barriers can easily be retro-fitted into existing programs. The only new burden on the programmer is the construction of a pair of functions to count and enumerate the neighbors of a given process. We describe the topological barrier in pseudo-code and pictures, and illustrate its performance on a pair of applications.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1996
Accession Number
ADA309543

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  • M. L. Scott
  • M. M. Michael

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  • University of Rochester

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