Scientific Computing with C/C++

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Hello -- I'm the technical leader for the IBM MASS math libraries. MASS stands for Mathematical Acceleration Subsystem, and consists of libraries of mathematical functions specifically tuned for optimum performance on various computing platforms.

MASS was originally launched by IBM in 1995, and has been continuously improved and expanded since then. I've been involved with MASS since 2002.

There are currently versions of MASS for all the POWER processors, running AIX or Linux operating systems. There are also versions for BlueGene/L and BlueGene/P, as well as the Cell/B.E.

The libraries contain accelerated implementations of elementary functions such as the trigonometric and hyperbolic functions and their inverses; power, logarithm, exponential, error function, and others. Complete lists are available on the MASS Web page, the URL of which is given below.

There are both scalar and vector libraries, and for Cell/B.E. there is a SIMD library as well.

The libraries are callable from C, C++, or Fortran source programs. The IBM XL C/C++ and IBM XL Fortran compilers are also capable of recognizing opportunities to use MASS to accelerate the source program, and invoking it automatically without the need for source-program changes.

The MASS libraries are packaged with the IBM XL C/C++ and IBM XL Fortran compilers, and are also available free-of-charge on the MASS Web page, for users of other compilers (such as gcc) for the target hardware.

You can find out more about the MASS libraries at the MASS Web page, http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/mass . If you have questions about MASS, you can post them on this blog, or send them to me at masslib@ca.ibm.com, both of which I monitor.

Happy numerical computing!

Regards,
Robert


Robert F. Enenkel, Ph.D.,
Compilers/Numerical Computing, IBM Toronto Laboratory,
Mail Stop D2, 8200 Warden Ave., Markham, Ontario, Canada, L6G 1C7
https://www-927.ibm.com/ibm/cas/toronto/people/members/robert.shtml

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As mentioned below Programming the Cell/B.E. architecture just got better, the latest version of the IBM XL C/C++ compiler for the CELL has just been released.

I am the technical lead for the IBM XL compilers on CELL, and the team lead for the TOBEY optimizer (one of two optimizers in the XL compilers, and I am overjoyed that the Single Source compiler has joined our dual source compilers on CELL.

The dual source compilers are the separate invocations for compiles for the PPU and for the SPU. This is how CELL has been programmed until now. The single source compiler shares the same infrastructure, but now interprets OpenMP pragmas to partition a program into parts to be run on the PPU and the parallel parts to be run on the SPU. The compiler automatically generates the DMA transfers needed to move data to and from the SPUs.

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Welcome to the blog on Scientific Computing with C/C++.

IBM has a long history of Scientific Computing starting with the creation of FORTRAN
in 1957 to the control systems for the Apollo missions in the 1960s.

Today, various user groups and wikis exist to support IBM’s scientific computer users:


My Name is Roch Archambault and I have over 20 years of compiler development experience at IBM.

In the last 5 years I’ve been the compiler focal point for High Performance Computing (HPC). I’ve been involved with several high profile US government funded scientific computing efforts:
  • ASCI (Advanced Strategic Computing Initiative) since 1997 funded by DOE
  • HPCS (High Productivity Computing Systems) funded by DARPA.
  • Bluewater system (Great Lakes Consortium) funded by NSF.

The C and C++ languages are becoming more and more popular in Scientific Computing.

My colleagues and I hope to bring a wealth of expertise to this blog to assist programmers of scientific applications in analyzing and improving the performance of their codes.

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