P3T+: A performance estimator for distributed and parallel programs

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 distributed and parallel programs. 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 currently evaluated by several application developers. Experimental results for realistic kernel codes taken from real-world applications are presented to demonstrate both accuracy and usefulness of P 3T+.