Friday, February 29, 2008

More Concurrency

I’m receiving a lot of questions about the status of parallelization in today’s world of software development. More and more people are interested in this topic. Some are driven by requirements. Some are mixing it up with the 64-bit change. ;-) Well. Despite all the support in Java, .NET, and all the frameworks like MPI and OpenMP, it is still a mess. It is not addressed adequately in respect to the roadmap of the processor industry, especially for client applications. Functional programming languages and transactional memory are no way out, because of missing acceptance and the current state of these languages, concepts, etc. On the other hand, the increase of the clock speed is no longer a save heaven. Everybody should be aware of this. And, cache is also just a workaround. Beside the existing support mentioned earlier, today’s concepts in terms of languages and compilers make assumptions that might be not true. Basically, the processors and compilers just see sequential code, but they do not work on strictly sequential code. There is always the threat of some kind of optimization, which might be a requirement for the CPU developers to gain some extra-performance. Other pitfalls are dead-locks, different locking mechanisms, and data corruptions in case of failed locking. I have not mentioned the state of complexity yet, the KISS (keep it …) is definitely not addressed. This is especially true for lock-free programming which can’t be recommended for mainstream programming. Talking about my experience, the utilization of OpenMP should be preferred for simple shared-memory scenarios. Developers should consider the positive impact of cache and must learn to utilize environmental variables, pragmas / compiler directives, and the library functions properly. Of course, the code (basically the loops) must be organized respectively. Btw, this is another condition to use OpenMP (If not, it makes no sense). More is about to come.

Raising Awareness

Microsoft is addressing the Parallel Computing topic explicitly, and compares this kind of shift with other milestones in the world of computing like graphical user interfaces or the internet. A whitepaper called “The Manycore Shift” is available on the company’s web site outlining Microsoft’s Parallel Computing Initiative. From my point of view, this comparison is correct and the need to emphasize and address this subject is overdue and should lead to results quickly, especially for mainstream development. Exciting times!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

OpenMP and MPI

Beside the support for parallelism in .NET’s managed code environment and some support in the Java World, two powerful frameworks exist to support parallel programming in an explicit manner: MPI (Massage Passing Interface) and OpenMP. Both can be used with C/C++ and FORTRAN but with a different focus. OpenMP is fine in a shared memory scenario. It is a strongly coupled approach. MPI fits better into a distributed memory environment, in a loosely coupled scenario. It is probably not exact to say that both frameworks are strictly explicit. In case of OpenMP, the invocation of OpenMP statements is explicit and up to the developer, but the synchronization is implicit and organized by the framework. Of course, a hybrid approach of both frameworks is feasible and used for bigger solutions. I’m gonna publish more on both, OpenMP and MPI. It’s a pretty fascinating topic.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Ein echtes Highlight

Am letzten Donnerstag gab es im Nürnberger "Hirsch" ein Konzert der Extraklasse: Engerling und Mitch Ryder. Sowohl Mitch als auch Engerling sind Könner ihres Fachs, in der Kombination jedoch ein ganz besonderes Ereignis! Wer die Gelegenheit hat, sollte ein Konzert dieser Tournee unbedingt besuchen: http://www.engerling.de/. Ich freue mich schon auf den ersten Mai, wenn Engerling wieder im Dresdner Bärenzwinger spielen wird. Diese Band ist etwas ganz Besonderes und mit Sicherheit die beste Bluesband Deutschlands.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Parallelism in Managed Code

The Parallel FX Library is offering support to express potential parallelism beginning with the .NET Framework Version 3.5 in order to unleash the power of Multi-Core Architectures (--> Static Method : Parallel.For (….) { }. Of course, it is up to the developer to identify potential areas of parallelism and to apply these mechanisms of concurrency (an explicit approach). And, same rules apply as for other techniques like OpenMP. Code and Cash Optimizations should be number one before starting to “develop parallel”. I will open a “new thread” (what a pun!) in order to check on this new library in more detail soon.

Sunday, February 03, 2008

New Blog Pointer

I added a link to Stefan's Blog (see Blogroll). He is an expert in test automation and an excellent architect. I have had the opportunity to work with him in a team. Both topics are in a very deep relationship: architecture and testing. But again, he is the expert.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Book Recommendations

Holiday Season and one week skiing have offered some extra time for reading (as usually). I got four recommendations from two different areas of interest: mountaineering/climbing and technology (not coding!). Here we go:

  • Alexander Huber: Der Berg in mir. Klettern am Limit. An extraordinary book from an extraordinary guy. Alex is one part of the famous Huber Buam. His climbing record is unbelievable.
  • Reinhold Messner: Die weiße Einsamkeit. Mein langer Weg zum Nanga Parbat. The Diamir (Nanga Parbat) is his mountain of destiny. Reinhold Messner is the greatest Alpinist of all times. This book is breathtaking and it is telling a story of tragedy and courage.
  • Scott Berkun: The Myth of Innovation This book is a must for all people having dreams and an innovative mindset. Yes, yes, yes innovation needs a special environment to foster cool and smart ideas.
  • Donald A. Norman: The Design of Everyday Thingseverything is so true. Hey, but why we are still surrounded by so many goods and devices of poor design and usability? This book was written in 1988!

In addition, I need to post two DVD’s for all folks in love with outdoors, wilderness and the mountains:

  • Der letzte Trapper [Director: Nicolas Vanier]
  • Am Limit (The Huber Buam, again!) [Director: Pepe Danquart]