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COMP 322: Fundamentals of Parallel Programming (Spring 2016)

Instructor:

Prof. Vivek Sarkar, DH 3080

Head TA:Max Grossman

Admin Assistant:

Annepha Hurlock, annepha@rice.edu, DH 3080, 713-348-5186

Graduate TAs:

Prasanth Chatarasi, Arghya Chatterjee, Yuhan Peng, Jonathan Sharman

Co-Instructor:Dr. Shams ImamUndergraduate TAs:

Prudhvi Boyapalli, Peter Elmers, Nicholas Hanson-Holtry, Ayush Narayan, Timothy Newton, Alitha Partono, Tom Roush, Hunter Tidwell, Bing Xue

Piazza site:

https://piazza.com/class/iirz0u74egl2q9 (Piazza is the preferred medium for all course communications, but you can also send email to comp322-staff at rice dot edu if needed)

Cross-listing:

ELEC 323

Lecture location:

Herzstein Hall 210

Lecture times:

MWF 1:00pm - 1:50pm (followed by office hours in Duncan Hall 3092 during 2pm - 3pm)

Lab location:

DH 1064 (Section A01), DH 1070 (Section A02)

Lab times:

Wednesday, 07:00pm - 08:30pm

Course Syllabus

A summary PDF file containing the course syllabus for the course can be found here.  Much of the syllabus information is also included below in this course web site, along with some additional details that are not included in the syllabus.

Course Objectives

The primary goal of COMP 322 is to introduce you to the fundamentals of parallel programming and parallel algorithms, by following a pedagogic approach that exposes you to the intellectual challenges in parallel software without enmeshing you in the jargon and lower-level details of today's parallel systems.  A strong grasp of the course fundamentals will enable you to quickly pick up any specific parallel programming system that you may encounter in the future, and also prepare you for studying advanced topics related to parallelism and concurrency in courses such as COMP 422. 

The desired learning outcomes fall into three major areas (course modules):

1) Parallelism: creation and coordination of parallelism (async, finish), abstract performance metrics (work, critical paths), Amdahl's Law, weak vs. strong scaling, data races and determinism, data race avoidance (immutability, futures, accumulators, dataflow), deadlock avoidance, abstract vs. real performance (granularity, scalability), collective & point-to-point synchronization (phasers, barriers), parallel algorithms, systolic algorithms.

2) Concurrency: critical sections, atomicity, isolation, high level data races, nondeterminism, linearizability, liveness/progress guarantees, actors, request-response parallelism, Java Concurrency, locks, condition variables, semaphores, memory consistency models.

3) Locality & Distribution: memory hierarchies, locality, cache affinity, data movement, message-passing (MPI), communication overheads (bandwidth, latency), MapReduce, accelerators, GPGPUs, CUDA, OpenCL.

To achieve these learning outcomes, each class period will include time for both instructor lectures and in-class exercises based on assigned reading and videos.  The lab exercises will be used to help students gain hands-on programming experience with the concepts introduced in the lectures.

To ensure that students gain a strong knowledge of parallel programming foundations, the classes and homeworks will place equal emphasis on both theory and practice. The programming component of the course will mostly use the  Habanero-Java Library (HJ-lib)  pedagogic extension to the Java language developed in the  Habanero Extreme Scale Software Research project  at Rice University.  The course will also introduce you to real-world parallel programming models including Java Concurrency, MapReduce, MPI, OpenCL and CUDA. An important goal is that, at the end of COMP 322, you should feel comfortable programming in any parallel language for which you are familiar with the underlying sequential language (Java or C). Any parallel programming primitives that you encounter in the future should be easily recognizable based on the fundamentals studied in COMP 322.

Prerequisite    

The prerequisite course requirements are COMP 182 and COMP 215.  COMP 322 should be accessible to anyone familiar with the foundations of sequential algorithms and data structures, and with basic Java programming.  COMP 321 is also recommended as a co-requisite.  

Textbooks

There are no required textbooks for the class. Instead, lecture handouts are provided for each module as follows.  The links to the latest versions on Owlspace are included below:

You are expected to read the relevant sections in each lecture handout before coming to the lecture.  We will also provide a number of references in the slides and handouts.

There are also a few optional textbooks that we will draw from quite heavily.  You are encouraged to get copies of any or all of these books.  They will serve as useful references both during and after this course:

Past Offerings of COMP 322

Lecture Schedule

worksheet13

Week

Day

Date (2016)

Topic

Assigned Reading

Assigned Videos (Quizzes due by Friday of each week)

In-class Worksheets

Slides

Work Assigned

Work Due

1

Mon

Jan 11

Lecture 1: Task Creation and Termination (Async, Finish)

Module 1: Section 1.1

Topic 1.1 Lecture, Topic 1.1 Demonstration

worksheet1lec1-slides

 

 

 

Wed

Jan 13

Lecture 2:  Computation Graphs, Ideal Parallelism

Module 1: Sections 1.2, 1.3Topic 1.2 Lecture, Topic 1.2 Demonstration, Topic 1.3 Lecture, Topic 1.3 Demonstrationworksheet2lec2-slides

 

 

 FriJan 15Lecture 3: Abstract Performance Metrics, Multiprocessor SchedulingModule 1: Section 1.4Topic 1.4 Lecture, Topic 1.4 Demonstrationworksheet3lec3-slides

Homework 1

(2 weeks)

Lecture & demo quizzes for topics 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4

2

Mon

Jan 18

No lecture, School Holiday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)

      

 

Wed

Jan 20

Lecture 4:   Parallel Speedup and Amdahl's Law

Module 1: Section 1.5Topic 1.5 Lecture, Topic 1.5 Demonstrationworksheet4lec4-slides  

 

Fri

Jan 22

Lecture 5: Future Tasks, Functional Parallelism

Module 1: Section 2.1Topic 2.1 Lecture,  Topic 2.1 Demonstrationworksheet5lec5-slides Lecture & demo quizzes for topics 1.5, 2.1 (topic 1.6 is optional)

3

Mon

Jan 25

Lecture 6: Memoization

Module 1: Section 2.2Topic 2.2 Lecture ,  Topic 2.2 Demonstrationworksheet6lec6-slides

BinomialCoefficient.java

Worksheet5.java

 
 WedJan 27

Lecture 7: Finish Accumulators

Module 1: Section 2.3Topic 2.3 Lecture , Topic 2.3 Demonstration  worksheet7lec7-slides  

 

Fri

Jan 29

Lecture 8: Data Races, Functional & Structural Determinism

Module 1: Sections 2.5, 2.6Topic 2.5 Lecture ,  Topic 2.5 Demonstration, Topic 2.6 Lecture ,  Topic 2.6 Demonstration  worksheet8lec8-slides

Homework 2

Homework 2 JARs (optional)

(2 weeks)

Homework 1, Lecture & demo quizzes for topics 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6

4

Mon

Feb 01

Lecture 9: Map Reduce

Module 1: Section 2.4Topic 2.4 Lecture ,  Topic 2.4 Demonstration  worksheet9lec9-slides  

 

Wed

Feb 03

Lecture 10: Java’s Fork/Join LibraryFJP chapter: Sections 7.3 & 7.5 worksheet10lec10-slides

ArraySum.java

ArraySumFourWay.java

 

 

Fri

Feb 05

Lecture 11: Loop-Level Parallelism, Parallel Matrix Multiplication, Iteration Grouping (Chunking)

Module 1: Sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

Topic 3.1 Lecture, Topic 3.1 Demonstration, Topic 3.2 Lecture, Topic 3.2 Demonstration, Topic 3.3 Lecture, Topic 3.3 Demonstration

worksheet11lec11-slides Lecture & demo quizzes for topics 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

5

Mon

Feb 08

Lecture 12: Barrier Synchronization

Module 1: Section 3.4Topic 3.4 Lecture , Topic 3.4 Demonstrationworksheet12lec12-slides  

 

Wed

Feb 10

Lecture 13: Iterative Averaging Revisited, SPMD pattern

Module 1: Sections 3.5, 3.6Topic 3.5 Lecture, Topic 3.5 Demonstration, Topic 3.6 Lecture,  Topic 3.6 Demonstration   worksheet13lec13-slidesWorksheet12.java

 

Fri

Feb 12

Lecture 14: Data-Driven Tasks and Data-Driven Futures

Module 1: Section 4.5Topic 4.5 Lecture,  Topic 4.5 Demonstrationworksheet14lec14-slides

Homework 3

(5 weeks, with two intermediate checkpoints)

Homework 2, Lecture & demo quizzes for topics 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 4.5

6

Mon

Feb 15

Lecture 15: Phasers, Point-to-point Synchronization

Module 1: Sections 4.2, 4.3Topic 4.2 Lecture,  Topic 4.2 Demonstration, Topic 4.3 Lecture,  Topic 4.3 Demonstrationworksheet15lec15-slides  

 

Wed

Feb 17

Lecture 16: Abstract vs. Real Performance

  worksheet16lec16-slides  

 

Fri

Feb 19

Lecture 17: Pipeline Parallelism, Signal Statement, Fuzzy Barriers

Module 1: Sections 4.4, 4.1Topic 4.4 Lecture,  Topic 4.4 Demonstration, Topic 4.1 Lecture,  Topic 4.1 Demonstration, worksheet17lec17-slides Lecture & demo quizzes for topics 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4

7

Mon

Feb 22

Lecture 18: Midterm Summary

  worksheet18lec19-slides  

 

Wed

Feb 24

Lecture 19: Midterm Review (Q&A)

    Exam 1 held during lab time (7:00pm - 10:00pm) 

 

Fri

Feb 26

Lecture 20: Classification of Parallel Programs

 Topic 4.6 Lecture,  Topic 4.6 Demonstration lec18-slides Homework 3 Checkpoint-1, Lecture & demo quizzes for topic 4.6

-

M-F

Feb 29- Mar 04

Spring Break

 

 

  

 

 

8

Mon

Mar 07

Lecture 21: Critical sections, Isolated construct, Parallel Spanning Tree algorithm

Module 1: Sections 3.5, 3.6Topic 5.1 Lecture, Topic 5.1 Demonstration, Topic 5.2 Lecture, Topic 5.2 Demonstration, Topic 5.3 Lecture, Topic 5.3 Demonstration worksheet20lec20-slides 

 

 

Wed

Mar 09

Lecture 22: Read-Write Isolation, Atomic variables

  worksheet21lec21-slides 

 

 

Fri

Mar 11

Lecture 23: Intro to Java Threads 

 Topic 5.4 Lecture, Topic 5.4 Demonstration, Topic 5.5 Lecture, Topic 5.5 Demonstration, Topic 5.6 Lecture, Topic 5.6 Demonstration worksheet22lec22-slides 

Homework 3 Checkpoint-2, Lecture & demo quizzes for topics 5.1 to 5.6

9

Mon

Mar 14

Lecture 24: Java Threads (contd), Java synchronized statement

 Topic 6.1 Lecture, Topic 6.1 Demonstration, Topic 6.2 Lecture, Topic 6.2 Demonstration, Topic 6.3 Lecture, Topic 6.3 Demonstration worksheet23lec23-slides

 

 

 

Wed

Mar 16

Lecture 25: Java synchronized statement (contd), advanced locking

 Topic 6.6 Lecture, Topic 6.6 Demonstration worksheet24lec24-slides

 

 

 

Fri

Mar 18

Lecture 26: Concurrent Objects, Linearizability of Concurrent Objects

 Topic 6.4 Lecture, Topic 6.4 Demonstration,   Topic 6.5 Lecture, Topic 6.5 Demonstration, Topic 7.4 Lectureworksheet25lec25-slides

Homework 4

(3 weeks, with one intermediate checkpoint)

Homework 3, Lecture & demo quizzes for topics 6.1 - 6.6, 7.4

10

Mon

Mar 21

Lecture 27: Safety and Liveness Properties

 Topic 7.1 Lectureworksheet26lec26-slides

 

 

 

Wed

Mar 23

Lecture 28: Eureka-style Speculative Task Parallelism

 Topic 7.2 Lectureworksheet27lec27-slides 

 

 

Fri

Mar 25

Lecture 29: Actors

 Topic 7.3 Lectureworksheet28lec28-slides

 

Lecture & demo quizzes for topics 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

11

Mon

Mar 28

Lecture 30: Actors (contd)

 Topic 7.5 Lectureworksheet29lec29-slides

 

 

 

Wed

Mar 30

Lecture 31: Dining Philosophers Problem

 Topic 7.6 Lectureworksheet30lec30-slides

 


-

Fri

Apr 01

Midterm Recess

     Homework 4 Checkpoint-1, Lecture & demo quizzes for topics 7.5, 7.6

12

Mon

Apr 04

Lecture 32: Task Affinity with Places

  worksheet31lec31-slides 

 

 

Wed

Apr 06

Lecture 33: Apache Spark framework for cluster computing

  worksheet32lec32-slides

 

 

 

Fri

Apr 08

Lecture 34: Message Passing Interface (MPI)

  worksheet33lec33-slides

Homework 5

(2 weeks, with 1-week automatic extension)

Homework 4

13

Mon

Apr 11

Lecture 35: Message Passing Interface (MPI, contd)

  worksheet34lec34-slides 

 

 

Wed

Apr 13

Lecture 36: PGAS languages

  worksheet35lec35-slides

 

 

 

Fri

Apr 15

Lecture 37: Memory Consistency Models

  worksheet36

lec36-slides

14

Mon

Apr 18

Lecture 38: GPU Computing

  worksheet-37lec37-slides

 

 

 

Wed

Apr 20

Lecture 39: Fortress language

   lec38-slides

 

 

 

Fri

Apr 22

Lecture 40: Course Review (lectures 20-37), Last day of classes

   lec39-slides Homework 5 (automatic extension till April 29)

-

TBD

TBD

Scheduled final exam

 

 

  

 

 

Lab Schedule

Lab #

Date (2015)

Topic

Handouts

Code Examples

0 Infrastructure Setuplab0-handout-

1

Jan 13

Async-Finish Parallel Programming

lab1-handout, lab1-slides
lab_1.zip

2

Jan 20

Abstract performance metrics with async & finish

lab2-handout, lab2-slides
lab_2.zip

3

Jan 27

Futures and HJ-Viz 

lab3-handout, lab3-slideslab_3.zip

4

Feb 03

Finish Accumulators and Loop-Level Parallelism

lab4-handout  and lab4-slides lab_4.zip

5

Feb 10

Loop Chunking and Barrier Synchronization

lab5-handout and lab5-slideslab_5.zip

6

Feb 17

Futures vs. Data-Driven Futures

lab6-handout and lab6-slideslab_6_ddfs_and_futures.zip

-

Feb 24

No lab this week — Exam 1

--

-

Mar 02

No lab this week — Spring Break

--

7

Mar 09

Phasers

lab7-handout 

8

Mar 16

Eureka-style Speculative Task Parallelism

lab8-handout 
9

Mar 23

Isolated Statement and Atomic Variables

lab9-handout 

10

Mar 30

Actors

lab10-handout 

11

Apr 06

Java Threads

lab11-handout 

12

Apr 13

Java Locks

lab12-handout 
13Apr 20Message Passing Interface (MPI)lab13-handout 

Grading, Honor Code Policy, Processes and Procedures

Grading will be based on your performance on five homeworks (weighted 40% in all), two exams (weighted 15% and 25% for Exam 1 and Exam 2), weekly lab exercises (weighted 10% in all), and class participation including worksheets, in-class Q&A, Piazza participation, and online quizzes (weighted 10% in all).

The purpose of the homeworks is to train you to solve problems and to help deepen your understanding of concepts introduced in class. Homeworks are due on the dates and times specified in the course schedule. Please turn in all your homeworks using the subversion system set up for the class. Homework is worth full credit when turned in on time. No late submissions (other than those using slip days mentioned below) will be accepted.

As in COMP 321, all students will be given 3 slip days to use throughout the semester. When you use a slip day, you will receive up to 24 additional hours to complete the assignment. You may use these slip days in any way you see fit (3 days on one assignment, 1 day each on 3 assignments, etc.). If you use slip days, you must submit a SLIPDAY.txt file in your SVN homework folder before the actual submission deadline indicating the number of slip days that you plan to use. Other than slip days, no extensions will be given unless there are exceptional circumstances (such as severe sickness, not because you have too much other work). Such extensions must be requested and approved by the instructor (via e-mail, phone, or in person) before the due date for the assignment. Last minute requests are likely to be denied.  If you do receive an extension from the instructor, please indicate this by placing an EXTENSION.txt file in your SVN homework folder before the actual submission deadline indicating the date that the extension was granted by the instructor as well as the length of the extension.

Labs must be checked off by a TA prior to the start of the lab the following week.

You will be expected to follow the Honor Code in all homeworks and exams.  All submitted homeworks are expected to be the result of your individual effort. You are free to discuss course material and approaches to homework problems with your other classmates, the teaching assistants and the professor, but you should never misrepresent someone else’s work as your own. If you use any material from external sources, you must provide proper attribution (as shown here).  Exams 1 and 2 test your individual understanding and knowledge of the material. Exams are closed-book, and collaboration on exams is strictly forbidden. Finally, it is also your responsibility to protect your homeworks and exams from unauthorized access. 

Graded homeworks will be returned to you via email, and exams as marked-up hardcopies. If you believe we have made an error in grading your homework or exam, please bring the matter to our attention within one week.

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs

Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact me during the first two weeks of class regarding any special needs. Students with disabilities should also contact Disabled Student Services in the Ley Student Center and the Rice Disability Support Services.