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Support for Efficient Programming on the SB-PRAM

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Abstract

The SB-PRAM is a shared-memory parallel computer that has been designed according to the PRAM model from theoretical computer science. The SB-PRAM realizes a concurrent-read, concurrent-write PRAM where each processor can access the global memory in unit time. This article describes the programming environment of the SB-PRAM that enables a programmer to develop efficient and portable programs without dealing with architectural details of the machine. In particular, we discuss compiler and operating system issues and show that the runtime functions of the P4 environment and several parallel data structures can be implemented very efficiently by using special features of the SB-PRAM. In contrast to other parallel machines, the synchronization of processors and the management of concurrent accesses to the global memory only require a few machine instructions independent of the number of processors participating in the operation. This efficient implementation of the runtime system is the basis for good performance of many challenging applications.

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Authors
  1. Thomas Grün
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  2. Thomas Rauber
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  3. Jochen Röhrig
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Grün, T., Rauber, T. & Röhrig, J. Support for Efficient Programming on the SB-PRAM. International Journal of Parallel Programming 26, 209–240 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018749028569

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