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MulTVision: A tool for visualizing parallel program executions

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Parallel Symbolic Computing: Languages, Systems, and Applications (PSC 1992)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 748))

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Abstract

MulTVision is a visualization tool that supports both performance measurement and debugging by helping a programmer see what happens during a specific, traced execution of a program. MulTVision has two components: a debug monitor and a replay engine. A traced execution yields a log as a by-product; both the debug monitor and the replay engine use this log as input. The debug monitor produces a graphical display showing the relationships between tasks in the traced execution. Using this display, a programmer can see bottlenecks or other causes of poor performance. The replay engine can be used to reproduce internal program states that existed during the traced execution. The replay engine uses a novel log protocol—the side- effect touch protocol-oriented toward programs that are mostly functional (have few side effects). Measurements show that the tracing overhead added to mostly functional programs is generally less than the overhead already incurred for task management and touch operations. While currently limited to program executions that create at most tens of thousands of tasks, MulTVision is already useful for an interesting class of programs.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. DEC Cambridge Research Lab, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Robert H. Halstead Jr.

  2. M.I.T. Laboratory for Computer Science, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA

    David A. Kranz

  3. M.I.T. Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Patrick G. Sobalvarro

Authors
  1. Robert H. Halstead Jr.
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  2. David A. Kranz
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  3. Patrick G. Sobalvarro
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Editor information

Robert H. Halstead Jr. Takayasu Ito

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Halstead, R.H., Kranz, D.A., Sobalvarro, P.G. (1993). MulTVision: A tool for visualizing parallel program executions. In: Halstead, R.H., Ito, T. (eds) Parallel Symbolic Computing: Languages, Systems, and Applications. PSC 1992. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 748. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0018653

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0018653

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-57396-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48133-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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