Execution model of three parallel languages: OpenMP, UPC and CAF

Issue title: International Symposium of Parallel and Distributed Computing & International Workshop on Algorithms, Models and Tools for Parallel Computing on Heterogenous Networks

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Marowka, Ami

Affiliations: Software Engineering Department, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, 12 Anna Frank, Ramat-Gan, 52526, Israel. Tel.: +972 3 6110033; Fax: +972 3 7521141; E-mail: amimar2@yahoo.com

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present a qualitative evaluation of three state-of-the-art parallel languages: OpenMP, Unified Parallel C (UPC) and Co-Array Fortran (CAF). OpenMP and UPC are explicit parallel programming languages based on the ANSI standard. CAF is an implicit programming language. On the one hand, OpenMP designs for shared-memory architectures and extends the base-language by using compiler directives that annotate the original source-code. On the other hand, UPC and CAF designs for distribute-shared memory architectures and extends the base-language by new parallel constructs. We deconstruct each language into its basic components, show examples, make a detailed analysis, compare them, and finally draw some conclusions.

Keywords: OpenMP, UPC, CAF, parallel programming models

Journal: Scientific Programming, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 127-135, 2005