A Taxonomy of Programming Models for Symmetric Multiprocessors and SMP Clusters

by W. W. Gropp and E. L. Lusk

from Proceedings of Programming Models for Massively Parallel Computers (PMMP '95)

The basic processing element, from PCs to large systems, is rapidly becoming a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP). As a result, the nodes of a parallel computer will often be an SMP. The resulting mixed hardware models (combining shared-memory and distributed memory) provide a challenge to system software developers to provide users with programming models that are portable, understandable, and efficient. This paper describes and compares a variety of programming models for a parallel computer made up of SMP nodes.

Keywords: Message passing, parallel computing, symmetric multiprocessing, shared memory

Addresses:
Mathematics and Computer Science Division
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, Illinois 60439
{gropp,lusk}@mcs.anl.gov