Translation Tools for High Performance Computing

Massively parallel processors (MPPs) hold the promise of extremely high performance that, if realized, could be used to study problems of unprecedented size and complexity. One of the primary stumbling blocks to this promise has been the lack of tools to automatically translate application codes to MPP form. In this paper we show how applications codes written in a subset of Fortran 77 called Fortran-P can be translated to achieve good performance on several massively parallel machines. This subset can express codes that are self-similar, where the algorithm applied to the global data domain is also applied to each subdomain. We have found many codes that match the Fortran-P programming style and have converted them using our tools. We believe a self-similar coding style will accomplish what a vectorizable style has accomplished for vector machines by allowing the construction of robust, user-friendly translation systems that increase programmer productivity and generate fast, eecient code for MPPs. 1