Mainstream parallel array programming on cell

Keir, P., Cockshott, W.P. and Richards, A. (2011) Mainstream parallel array programming on cell. In: 5th Workshop on Highly Parallel Processing on a Chip (HPPC 2011), Bordeaux, France, 30 August, 2011,

Abstract

We present the E] compiler and runtime library for the ‘F’ subset of the Fortran 95 programming language. ‘F’ provides first-class support for arrays, allowing E] to implicitly evaluate array expressions in parallel using the SPU coprocessors of the Cell Broadband Engine. We present performance results from four benchmarks that all demonstrate absolute speedups over equivalent ‘C’ or Fortran versions running on the PPU host processor. A significant benefit of this straightforward approach is that a serial implementation of any code is always available, providing code longevity, and a familiar development paradigm.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cockshott, Dr William
• Authors: Keir, P., Cockshott, W.P., and Richards, A.
• Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2011 The Authors
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with permission of the authors