Prototyping Parallel Applications Based on Divide and Conquer Strategy

Divide and conquer algorithms, parallel performance, parallel recursive FFT

The paper addresses a problem of parallel implementation of divide-and-conquer algorithms, whose performance is not always satisfactory. Questions like depth of recursion, multiple processes per processor, communication architecture and overhead, etc., are analyzed and the template for prototyping D&C algorithms in Transim language is explained. Prototypes of parallel D&C programs can be executed and their performance estimated before developing the code in detail. The technique is useful for programs with message passing as well as with shared variables. As an example a prototype of a parallel 1D-FFT benchmark targeted both to a distributed memory machine and to a SMP have been developed and simulated. The experiments show that the template can be used for quick estimation of performance and suitability of D&C approach in any given application.