CP431,CP631 Parallel Programming, WINTER 2025, 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

CP367 (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, Winter Semester Timetable

              |     Mon     |     Wed     |
              | 11:30-12:20 | 11:30-12:20 |
              |    BA208    |   BA208     |
______________|_____________|_____________|__
              |             |             |
Week 1:       |  Jan 06     |  Jan 08     |
Week 2:       |  Jan 13     |  Jan 15     |
Week 3:       |  Jan 20     |  Jan 22     |
Week 4:       |  Jan 27     |  Jan 29     |
Week 5:       |  Feb 03     |  Feb 05     |
Week 6:       |  Feb 10     |  Feb 12 (M) |
______________|_____________|_____________|__
              |
Reading Week  | Feb 17-21  Reading Week
______________|______________________________
              |             |             |
Week 7:       |  Feb 24     |  Feb 26     |
Week 8:       |  Mar 03     |  Mar 05     |
Week 9:       |  Mar 10     |  Mar 12     |
Week 10:      |  Mar 17     |  Mar 19     |
Week 11:      |  Mar 24     |  Mar 26     |
Week 12:      |  Mar 31 (TP)|  Apr 02 (TP)|
______________|_____________|_____________|__
              |             |             |

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 5 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 20%, release date: TBA, due date: TBA

• A2 20%, release date: TBA, 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
    (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%, Wednesday, February 12, 2025 (in class).

  Students are advised not to make travel commitments during scheduled examinations. Missing a scheduled examination without valid (medical) reasons and doctor's note, will result in a mark of 0.

• (TP) Term Project: 30%, due date: March 30, 2025

  All students will be required to prepare a Term Project, details in class. Each group will have to deliver a project document and conduct an in-class project presentation/demonstration during Week 12 of classes. All group members must be present during the project demonstration (absent group members are subject to 50% penalty, off the Term Project mark).

Term Project Demonstrations Schedule

(You are strongly advised to test your presentation materials and/or test your laptop/desktop on zoom beforehand, to avoid unexpected delays, arising due to technical difficulties, during your presentations)

Group IDs, for A1, A2, TP, listed in a FIPPA-compliant manner, i.e. anonymized

FIPPA == Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act

Term Project Presentations Schedule: Monday March 31 2025 

Term Project Presentations Schedule: Wednesday April 02 2025

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 (Springer)

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.