P^3T+: A performance estimator for distributed and parallel programs

Article type: Research Article

Authors: T. Fahringer, | A. Po\v{z}gaj,

Affiliations: Institute for Software Science, University of Vienna, Liechtensteinstrasse 22, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. E-mail: tf@par.univie.ac.at

Abstract: Developing distributed and parallel programs on today's multiprocessor architectures is still a challenging task. Particular distressing is the lack of effective performance tools that support the programmer in evaluating changes in code, problem and machine sizes, and target architectures. In this paper we introduce P^3T+ which is a performance estimator for mostly regular HPF (High Performance Fortran) programs but partially covers also message passing programs (MPI). P^3T+ is unique by modeling programs, compiler code transformations, and parallel and distributed architectures. It computes at compile-time a variety of performance parameters including work distribution, number of transfers, amount of data transferred, transfer times, computation times, and number of cache misses. Several novel technologies are employed to compute these parameters: loop iteration spaces, array access patterns, and data distributions are modeled by employing highly effective symbolic analysis. Communication is estimated by simulating the behavior of a communication library used by the underlying compiler. Computation times are predicted through pre-measured kernels on every target architecture of interest. We carefully model most critical architecture specific factors such as cache lines sizes, number of cache lines available, startup times, message transfer time per byte, etc. P^3T+ has been implemented and is closely integrated with the Vienna High Performance Compiler (VFC) to support programmers develop parallel and distributed applications. Experimental results for realistic kernel codes taken from real-world applications are presented to demonstrate both accuracy and usefulness of P^3T+.

Journal: Scientific Programming, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 73-93, 2000