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COMP 322: Fundamentals of Parallel Programming (Spring 2020)

 

Instructor:

Mackale Joyner, DH 2063

Head TAs:Jonathan Cai (hw), Paul Jiang (lab 1pm), William Su (lab 4pm)
Admin Assistant:Annepha Hurlock, annepha@rice.edu, DH 3122, 713-348-5186Undergraduate TAs:

Tory Songyang, Zishi Wang

Piazza site:

https://piazza.com/configure-classes/spring2020/comp322 (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:

Sewell Hall 301

Lecture times:

MWF 1:00pm - 1:50pm

Lab locations:

Sewell Hall 301

Lab times:

Thursday, 1:00pm - 1:50pm, 4:00pm - 4:50pm

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 and Other Resources

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

There are also a few optional textbooks that we will draw from during the course.  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:

 

Finally, here are some additional resources that may be helpful for you:

Lecture Schedule

 

Week

Day

Date (2020)

Lecture

Assigned Reading

Assigned Videos (see Canvas site for video links)

In-class Worksheets

Slides

Work Assigned

Work Due

 

1

Mon

Jan 13

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 15

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

Homework 1

 

 
 FriJan 17Lecture 3: Abstract Performance Metrics, Multiprocessor SchedulingModule 1: Section 1.4Topic 1.4 Lecture, Topic 1.4 Demonstrationworksheet3lec3-slides

 

  

2

Mon

Jan 20

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

       

 

Wed

Jan 22

Lecture 4: Parallel Speedup and Amdahl's Law

Module 1: Section 1.5Topic 1.5 Lecture, Topic 1.5 Demonstrationworksheet4lec4-slidesQuiz for Unit 1  

 

Fri

Jan 24

Lecture 5: Future Tasks, Functional Parallelism ("Back to the Future")Module 1: Section 2.1Topic 2.1 Lecture, Topic 2.1 Demonstrationworksheet5lec5-slides   

3

Mon

Jan 27

Lecture 6:   Finish Accumulators

Module 1: Section 2.3Topic 2.3 Lecture, Topic 2.3 Demonstrationworksheet6lec6-slides   
 WedJan 29

Lecture 7: Map Reduce

Module 1: Section 2.4Topic 2.4 Lecture, Topic 2.4 Demonstration  worksheet7lec7-slides

Homework 2

Homework 1 

 

Fri

Jan 31

Lecture 8: Data Races, Functional & Structural Determinism

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

 

Quiz for Unit 1 

4

Mon

Feb 03

Lecture 9: Java’s Fork/Join Library

Module 1: Sections 2.7, 2.8Topic 2.7 Lecture, Topic 2.8 Lectureworksheet9lec9-slidesQuiz for Unit 2  

 

Wed

Feb 05

Lecture 10: Loop-Level Parallelism, Parallel Matrix MultiplicationModule 1: Sections 3.1, 3.2Topic 3.1 Lecture , Topic 3.1 Demonstration ,  Topic 3.2 Lecture,  Topic 3.2 Demonstration worksheet10lec10-slides   

 

Fri

Feb 07

Lecture 11: Iteration Grouping (Chunking), Barrier Synchronization

Module 1: Sections 3.3, 3.4

Topic 3.3 Lecture , Topic 3.3 Demonstration, Topic 3.4 Lecture  ,   Topic 3.4 Demonstration

worksheet11lec11-slides   

5

Mon

Feb 10

Lecture 12:  Parallelism in Java Streams, Parallel Prefix Sums

Module 1: Section 3.7Topic Topic 3.7 Java Streams, Topic 3.7 Java Streams Demonstrationworksheet12lec12-slides Quiz for Unit 2 
 

Wed

Feb 12

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 Demonstrationworksheet13lec13-slides

Homework 3 (includes 2 intermediate checkpoints)

Quiz for Unit 3

Homework 2 

-

Fri

Feb 14

Spring Recess

       

6

Mon

Feb 17

Lecture 14: Data-Driven Tasks 

Module 1: Sections 4.5Topic 4.5 Lecture   Topic 4.5 Demonstrationworksheet14 lec14-slides   

 

Wed

Feb 19

Lecture 15:  Point-to-point Synchronization with Phasers

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

 

Fri

Feb 21

Lecture 16: 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 Demonstrationworksheet16lec16-slidesQuiz for Unit 4Quiz for Unit 3 

7

Mon

Feb 24

Lecture 17: Midterm Review

   lec17-slides   

 

Wed

Feb 26

Lecture 18: Abstract vs. Real Performance

  worksheet18 lec18-slides    

 

Fri

Feb 28

Lecture 19: Critical Sections, Isolated construct (start of Module 2)

Module 2: Sections 5.1, 5.2, 5.6, Topic 5.1 Lecture, Topic 5.1 Demonstration, Topic 5.2 Lecture, Topic 5.2 Demonstration, Topic 5.6 Lecture, Topic 5.6 Demonstrationworksheet19lec19-slides Homework 3, Checkpoint-1 

8

Mon

Mar 02

Lecture 20: Parallel Spanning Tree algorithm, Atomic variables

Module 2: Sections 5.3, 5.4, 5.5Topic 5.3 Demonstration, Topic 5.4 Lecture, Topic 5.4 Demonstration, Topic 5.5 Lecture, Topic 5.5 Demonstrationworksheet20lec20-slides 

 

 

 

Wed

Mar 04

Lecture 21: Actors

Module 2: 6.1, 6.2

Topic 6.1 Lecture ,   Topic 6.1 Demonstration ,   Topic 6.2 Lecture, Topic 6.2 Demonstration

worksheet21 lec21-slides  

 

 

 

Fri

Mar 06

Lecture 22: Actors (contd)

Module 2: 6.3, 6.4, 6.5Topic 6.3 Lecture, Topic 6.3 Demonstration, Topic 6.4 Lecture , Topic 6.4 Demonstration,   Topic 6.5 Lecture, Topic 6.5 Demonstration worksheet22 lec22-slides 

Quiz for Unit 4

 

9

Mon

Mar 09

No class

Module 2: 6.6Topic 6.6 Lecture, Topic 6.6 Demonstration  

Quiz for Unit 5

 

 

 

 

Wed

Mar 11

No class

    

 

Homework 3, Checkpoint-2

 

 

Fri

Mar 13

No class

    Quiz for Unit 6Quiz for Unit 5 
-

M-F

Mar 16 - Mar 20

Spring Break

       

10

Mon

Mar 23

Lecture 25: Java Threads, Java synchronized statement (contd), wait/notify

Module 2: 7.1, 7.2Topic 7.1 Lecture, Topic 7.2 Lectureworksheet25lec25-slides 

 

 

 
 

Wed

Mar 25

Lecture 26: Java Locks, Linearizability of Concurrent Objects

Module 2: 7.3, 7.4Topic 7.3 Lecture, Topic 7.4 Lectureworksheet26 lec26-slides

Homework 4

(includes one intermediate checkpoint)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Fri

Mar 27

Lecture 27: Safety and Liveness Properties, Java Synchronizers, Dining Philosophers Problem

Module 2: 7.5, 7.6Topic 7.5 Lecture, Topic 7.6 Lectureworksheet27lec27-slides Quiz for Unit 7

Homework 3 (all)

Quiz for Unit 6

 

11

Mon

Mar 30

Lecture 28: Message Passing Interface (MPI), (start of Module 3)

 Topic 8.1 Lecture, Topic 8.2 Lecture, Topic 8.3 Lecture,worksheet28

lec28-slides

   

 

Wed

Apr 01

Lecture 29:  Message Passing Interface (MPI, contd)

 Topic 8.4 Lecture, Topic 8.5 Lecture, Topic 8 Demonstration Videoworksheet29 lec29-slides

Quiz for Unit 8

  

 

Fri

Apr 03

Lecture 30: Distributed Map-Reduce using Hadoop and Spark frameworks

 Topic 9.1 Lecture (optional, overlaps with video 2.4), Topic 9.2 Lecture, Topic 9.3 Lectureworksheet30 lec30-slides  Quiz for Unit 7 

12

Mon

Apr 06

Lecture 31: TF-IDF and PageRank Algorithms with Map-Reduce

 Topic 9.4 Lecture, Topic 9.5 Lecture, Unit 9 Demonstrationworksheet31 lec31-slides Quiz for Unit 9

 

 

 

Wed

Apr 08

TBD

    

 

Homework 4 Checkpoint-1

 

 

Fri

Apr 10

TBD

 Lectures 10.1 - 10.5, Unit 10 Demonstration (all videos optional – unit 10 has no quiz)worksheet32lec32-slides

 

Quiz for Unit 8

 

13

Mon

Apr 13

Lecture 33: Combining Distribution and Multithreading

  worksheet33lec33-slides 


 

 

Wed

Apr 15

Lecture 34: Task Affinity with Places

  worksheet34lec34-slides

Homework 5

Homework 4 (all)

 

 

Fri

Apr 17

Lecture 35: Eureka-style Speculative Task Parallelism

  worksheet35

lec35-slides

 

Quiz for Unit 9 

14

Mon

Apr 20

Lecture 36: Algorithms based on Parallel Prefix (Scan) operations

  worksheet36lec36-slides 

 

 

 

Wed

Apr 22

Lecture 37: Algorithms based on Parallel Prefix (Scan) operations, contd.  worksheet37lec37-slides

 

 

 

 

Fri

Apr 24

Lecture 38: Course Review (Lectures 20-38)

   lec38-slides 

Homework 5

 
-          
           

Lab Schedule

Lab #

Date (2020)

Topic

Handouts

Examples

0 Infrastructure Setuplab0-handout-

1

Jan 16

Async-Finish Parallel Programming with abstract metrics

lab1-handout
-
- No lab this week  

2

Jan 30

Futures

lab2-handout
-

3

Feb 06

Cutoff Strategy and Real World Performance

lab3-handout -

-

 

No lab this week - Spring Recess -
4

Feb 20

DDFs

lab4-handout -

5

Feb 27

No lab this week (midterm exam)

 

  

6

Mar 05

Loop-level Parallelism

lab5-handout lab5-intro

7

Mar 12

Isolated Statement and Atomic Variables

lab6-handout -

-

 

No lab this week - Spring Break

  
8Mar 26Actorslab7-handout-
9

Apr 02

Java Threads, Java Locks

lab8-handout -

10

Apr 09

Message Passing Interface (MPI)

lab9-handout -

 

 

Apache Spark

 -

 

 

Eureka-style Speculative Task Parallelism

  
  

Java's ForkJoin Framework

  

Grading, Honor Code Policy, Processes and Procedures

Grading will be based on your performance on five homeworks (weighted 40% in all), two exams (weighted 40% in all), weekly lab exercises (weighted 10% in all), online quizzes (weighted 5% in all), and in-class worksheets (weighted 5% in all).

The purpose of the homeworks is to give you practice in solving problems that deepen your understanding of concepts introduced in class. Homeworks are due on the dates and times specified in the course schedule.  No late submissions (other than those using slip days mentioned below) will be accepted.

The slip day policy for COMP 322 is similar to that of 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.). Slip days will be automatically tracked through the Autograder, more details are available later in this document and in the Autograder user guide. 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.

Labs must be checked off by a TA by the following Monday at 11:59pm.

Worksheets should be completed in class for full credit.  For partial credit, a worksheet can be turned in before the start of the class following the one in which the worksheet for distributed, so that solutions to the worksheets can be discussed in the next class.

You will be expected to follow the Honor Code in all homeworks and exams.  The following policies will apply to different work products in the course:

 

For grade disputes, please send an email to the course instructors within 7 days of receiving your grade. The email subject should include COMP 322 and the assignment. Please provide enough information in the email so that the instructor does not need to perform a checkout of your code.

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.