Blizzard and Paradyn: Infrastructure and Scalable Tools for Multi-Paradigm Parallel Computers

The Blizzard and Paradyn project has built and distributed software infrastructure and tools for developing and studying multiple paradigm, parallel programs on existing and future parallel computers. The Blizzard shared memory substrate and Paradyn performance tools enable researchers to develop and evaluate parallel applications languages, compilers, and run time systems for current and future machines. We use this infrastructure to evaluate innovative hardware ideas and influence the direction of future machines. Tempest is an interface between user level software and a system on which to implement communication, including transparent shared memory, extensible shared memory, message passing, and hybrid forms. Applications or compilers are not limited to a single hardware provided paradigm. Blizzard is an implementation of the Tempest interface for existing message passing machines. This software only solution performs well enough that Blizzard programs compete with native software. Paradyn is based on a new, inherently scalable dynamic instrumentation facility for detailed profiling of long running, very large parallel programs. Paradyn monitors instrumentation cost and automatically controls its dynamic instrumentation. Paradyn supports an interface for high level parallel languages presenting performance data at the message level, allowing a programmer to peel back layers to understand low level operations in terms of high level features.