MCS 572: Introduction to Supercomputing

The goal of the course is to study parallel algorithms and their implementation on distributed and shared memory computers, using message passing, OpenMP, and threads. In the second half of the course we will consider general purpose graphics processing units. Prerequisites are a working knowledge of C (or willingness to acquire programming skills) and a familiary with algorithms at the level of introductory numerical analysis. The evaluation of the course consists mainly of homework and computer projects. Exams are scheduled as preparation for the computational science prelim.

The recommended textbooks are

• "Parallel Programming. Techniques and Applications Using Networked Workstations and Parallel Computers" by Barry Wilkinson and Michael Allen, Pearson Prentice Hall, second edition, 2005.
• "Programming Massively Parallel Processors. A Hands-on Approach" by David B. Kirk and Wen-mei W. Hwu, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2010.

Slides for the lectures will be posted below:

• L-1 01/09/12: welcome to mcs 572
• L-2 01/11/12: scalability and classifications
• L-3 01/13/12: high level parallel processing
  with Maple worksheets enablecuda.mw, enablecuda.mw, and Python scripts simpson4pi.py, simpson4pi1.py, and simpson4pi2.py.
• L-4 01/18/12: basics of MPI
  with simple C programs mpi_hello_world.c, broadcast_integer.c, and broadcast_doubles.c.
• L-5 01/20/12: using MPI
  with simple C programs parallel_sum.c and parallel_square.c.
• L-6 01/23/12: Pleasingly Parallel Computations
  with simple C programs sprng_hello.c, sprng_seed.c, sprng_estpi.c, sprng_estpi_mpi.c, sprng_normal.c, sprng_normald.c, and sprng_mtbf.c.
• L-7 01/25/12: Load Balancing
  with simple C programs mandelbrot.c, static_loaddist.c, and dynamic_loaddist.c.
• L-8 01/27/12: Data Partitioning
  with a simple C program fan_out_integers.c,
• L-9 01/30/12: Introduction to OpenMP
  with simple C programs hello_openmp0.c, hello_openmp1.c, comptrap.c, and comptrap_omp.c.
• L-10 02/01/12: Introduction to Pthreads
  with simple C programs hello_pthreads.c and process_jobqueue.c.
• L-11 02/03/12: Introduction to the Intel Threading Building Blocks
  with simple C++ programs hello_task_group.cpp, powers_serial.cpp, and powers_tbb.cpp.
• L-12 02/06/12: Parallel Sorting Algorithms
  simple C programs using qsort: use_qsort.c, time_qsort.c, part_qsort.c, and part_qsort_omp.c. Compile part_qsort_omp.c with gcc -fopenmp.
  simple C++ programs using STL sort: use_stl_sort.cpp and time_stl_sort.cpp.
• L-13 02/08/12: Parallel Numerical Integration
  simple C++ programs: qd4sqrt2.cpp, romberg4piqd.cpp, romberg4piqd_omp.cpp, and parsum_tbb.cpp.