CP431,CP631 Parallel Programming, FALL 2017, WLU

Parallel computers, or supercomputers or high-performance clusters are ubiquitous today in Science and Engineering. Parallel programming requires inventing new algorithms and programming techniques. This course will cover the fundamental paradigms of parallel programming, with an emphasis on problem solving and actual applications. The parallel programming concepts and algorithms will be illustrated via implementations in OpenMP and MPI (Message Passing Interface), as well as serial farming.

Important Course Information

Prerequisites

CP217 (proficiency in C)

Dr. Ilias S. Kotsireas,  Office 2076A, Office Hours 24/7 and by appointment, Phone 884-0710 ext. 2218# E-Mail: ikotsireATwlu.ca

Course Topics

1. Historical overview and evolution of parallel computing
2. Fundamental concepts of parallelism
3. Parallel computer memory architectures: shared memory, distributed memory, hybrid distributed-shared memory
4. Parallel computer system architectures: Multi-Core, SMP, Clusters, Supercomputers, Flynn's Taxonomy
5. Performance, Speedup, Scalability, Amdahl's law, Gustafson-Barsis's law, Karp-Flatt metric, Isoefficiency relation
6. Load balancing: static, dynamic, termination detection
7. Abstractions for parallel programming: Data Parallelism, Task Parallelism, Reduce and Scan, work assignment, Pipelining
8. Programming paradigms for parallel computing: OpenMP, MPI, MapReduce/Google, Cilk, Cilk++, CUDA/GPU, Implicit Parallelism (Serial Farming)
9. Applications: parallel sorting, parallel matrix-vector multiplication, parallel matrix multiplication, parallel searching, Floyd's algorithm, Sieve of Eratosthenes, Circuit Satisfiability

Class Schedule, Fall Semester Timetable

            |     Mon     |     Wed     |     Fri     
            | 13:30-14:20 | 13:30-14:20 | 13:30-14:20  
            |    N1044    |    N1044    |    N1044    
____________|_____________|_____________|_____________
            |             |             |             
Week 0:     |   ------    |   ------    |   Sep 08
Week 1:     |   Sep 11    |   Sep 13    |   Sep 15   
Week 2:     |   Sep 18    |   Sep 20    |   Sep 22
Week 3:     |   Sep 25    |   Sep 27    |   Sep 29
Week 4:     |   Oct 02    |   Oct 04    |   Oct 06
____________|_____________|_____________|______________
            |
Study Break |  October 9-13  N o  C o u r s e s
____________|__________________________________________
            |             |            |
Week 5:     |   Oct 16    |   Oct 18   |    Oct 20
Week 6:     |   Oct 23    |   Oct 25   |    Oct 27 (M)
Week 7:     |   Oct 30    |   Nov 01   |    Nov 03
Week 8:     |   Nov 06    |   Nov 08   |    Nov 10
Week 9:     |   Nov 13    |   Nov 15   |    Nov 17
Week 10:    |   Nov 20    |   Nov 22   |    Nov 24
Week 11:    |   Nov 27    |   Nov 29   |    Dec 01
Week 12:    |   Dec 04    |   Dec 06   |    ------
____________|_____________|____________|______________
            |             |            |             

Course Requirements/Student Evaluation

• The course final grade is computed based on the 4 components: A1, A2, M, TP, explained in more detail below.

• A1, A2, TP, are groupwork. Students are required to form groups (of 3 or 4 students each) to work on A1 A2 TP collaboratively.

• The course final grade is computed as: A1*(20/100) + A2*(20/100) + M*(30/100) + TP*(30/100)

• (A1) Assignment 1: 20%, due date: TBA.

• (A2) Assignment 2: 20%, due date: TBA.

• Important Information regarding groupwork submission:
  • Late submissions will be marked with 0.

  • All assignment submissions will be on MyLS only.

  • All assignment submissions must be typeset (LaTeX, Word).

  • All assignment submissions must be by .pdf file attachment only.

  • Please upload one .pdf file only, for the entire assignment.

  • Use the following naming schemes, for your .pdf files:
    CP431-A1-GroupID.pdf CP431-A2-GroupID.pdf CP431-TP-GroupID.zip
    or
    CP631-A1-GroupID.pdf CP631-A2-GroupID.pdf CP631-TP-GroupID.zip
    (these are dash characters, not underscores)

  • Your submissions should have a cover page, all pages should be numbered and on each page include a header with your GroupID, course code, submission date, and A1/A2

  • Submissions that violate any of the above requirements, will not be accepted/marked.

• (M) Midterm: 30%, Friday, October 27, 2017 (in class).

• (TP) Term Project: 30%, due date: TBA.

  All students will be required to prepare a Term Project, details in class. Each group will have to deliver a project document and conduct a project demonstration.

Term Project Demonstrations Schedule

(You are strongly advised to upload your presentation materials on the classroom computer beforehand, and/or test your laptop with the classroom console beforehand, to avoid unexpected delays, arising due to technical difficulties, during your presentations)

Monday, December 4, 2017:

Group 1: AC-AS-CW-VC     1:30 -- 1:45	Julia Sets

Group 2: OT-EG-TW        1:45 -- 2:00	Parallel Data Mining (Apriori algorithm)

Group 3: JN-MM-JR        2:00 -- 2:15   Multiplication Tables 

Wednesday, December 6, 2017:

Group 4: YL-BS-LZ-ML    1:30 -- 1:45	Julia Sets

Group 5: SJ-FK-BK-GS    1:45 -- 2:00    Multiplication Tables

Group 6: SL-GM-MM-EH    2:00 -- 2:15	Multiplication Tables 

Research resources

1. International Journal of Parallel Programming (Springer)
2. Parallel Computing Systems & Applications (Elsevier)
3. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing (Elsevier)
4. Encyclopedia of Parallel Computing

University and Course Policies (senate approved)

1. Special Needs: Students with disabilities or special needs are advised to contact Laurier’s Accessible Learning Centre for information regarding its services and resources. Students are encouraged to review the Academic Calendar for information regarding all services available on campus.
2. Plagiarism: Wilfrid Laurier University uses software that can check for plagiarism. If requested to do so by the instructor, students are required to submit their written work in electronic form and have it checked for plagiarism.
3. Academic Integrity: Laurier is committed to a culture of integrity within and beyond the classroom. This culture values trustworthiness (i.e., honesty, integrity, reliability), fairness, caring, respect, responsibility and citizenship. Together, we have a shared responsibility to uphold this culture in our academic and nonacademic behaviour. The University has a defined policy with respect to academic misconduct. As a Laurier student you are responsible for familiarizing yourself with this policy and the accompanying penalty guidelines, some of which may appear on your transcript if there is a finding of misconduct. The relevant policy can be found at Laurier's academic integrity website along with resources to educate and support you in upholding a culture of integrity. Ignorance is not a defense.
4. Classroom Use of Electronic Devices: Read WLU policy 9.3 Classroom Use of Electronic Devices.
5. Late Assignment Policy: late assignments will be marked with 0.
6. Final Examinations: Students are strongly urged not to make any commitments (i.e., vacation) during the examination period. Students are required to be available for examinations during the examination periods of all terms in which they register. Refer to the Handbook on Undergraduate Course Management for more information.
7. Foot Patrol, the Wellness Centre, Student Food Bank.