Multi-core Compilers Center for Scalable Application Development Software for Advanced Architectures John Mellor-Crummey (project webpage) Rice University

This project focuses on software tools for increasing the productivity of scientific application development on high-end computer systems. The Center emphasizes three activities:

• Research on technical challenges associated with effective utilization by applications of emerging multi-core architectures. Emphasis is placed on compilation methodology for both existing languages such as Fortran 90; emerging partitioned global address space languages including co-array Fortran; auto-tuning techniques; rapid prototyping systems; and scalable performance tools.
• Development and maintenance of open-source shared software infrastructures to enable the research and development community to incrementally construct programming support technologies that are portable across a broad range of high-end computer architectures. A particular focus of this activity will be the Open64 compiler infrastructure that supports a number of projects within the Department.
• Establish a program of summer workshops and other activities that bring together researchers in programming systems and tools for scalable computing with technology consumers—developers of applications, tools and systems—to exchange information, discuss problems, and build community consensus. Particular emphasis on parallel programming models, runtime libraries, instrumentation and tools.

Broad cooperation and coordination among academia, industry, national laboratories, and other government agencies is essential for steady progress over the long term, and the Center will collaborate closely with major Department of Energy software and computing resource centers, such as those at Oak Ridge, Argonne, and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories, as well as with numerous other SciDAC Institutes and Centers for Enabling Technologies. In addition, it will establish a strong program of interaction with computing industry system vendors and independent software developers.

Making effective use of petascale computers for the Department of Energy’s mission-critical applications will require state-of-the-art software. This center will serve as a resource for the scientific application teams by developing and maintaining open-source shared software infrastructures and programming support technologies that are portable across a broad range of high-end computer architectures. This will enable science application teams to focus on application challenges and not be diverted by inadequate system software.

Center for Enabling Technology: Computer Science

Project Title: Center for Scalable Application Development Software

Principal Investigator: John Mellor-Crummey
Affiliation: Rice University

Project Webpage: http://cscads.rice.edu

Co-Investigators:
Argonne National Laboratory - Peter Beckman
Rice University - Ken Kennedy (PI)
University of California at Berkeley - Katherine Yelick
University of Tennessee at Knoxville - Jack Dongarra
University of Wisconsin at Madison - Barton Miller

Program Partners: Office of Science — Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research

Budget and Duration: Approximately $2.0 million per year for five years ¹

Other media:
Creating Leadership-Class Technology, article in Issue 5 of SciDAC Review

Other SciDAC Enabling Technologies Centers
Other SciDAC computer science efforts