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Issue No.07 - July (1999 vol.48)
pp: 670-689
ABSTRACT
<p><b>Abstract</b>—The Bulk-Synchronous Parallel (BSP) model was proposed by Valiant as a standard interface between parallel software and hardware. In theory, the BSP model has been shown to allow the asymptotically optimal execution of architecture-independent software on a variety of architectures. Our goal in this work is to experimentally examine the practical use of the BSP model on current parallel architectures. We describe the design and implementation of the Green BSP Library, a small library of functions that implement the BSP model, and of several applications that were written for this library. We then discuss the performance of the library and application programs on several parallel architectures. Our results are positive in that we demonstrate efficiency and portability over a range of parallel architectures and show that the BSP cost model is useful for predicting performance trends and estimating execution times.</p>
INDEX TERMS
BSP, minimum spanning tree problem, models of parallel computation, $N$-body problem, parallel computing, parallel graph algorithms, shortest path problem.
CITATION
Mark W. Goudreau, Kevin Lang, Satish B. Rao, Torsten Suel, Thanasis Tsantilas, "Portable and Efficient Parallel Computing Using the BSP Model", IEEE Transactions on Computers, vol.48, no. 7, pp. 670-689, July 1999, doi:10.1109/12.780876