Home CPSC 425

CPSC 425: Parallel Computing

Meeting Times:Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:00 - 9:50, Farmer B7
Instructor:Ian Finlayson
Email:ifinlay@umw.edu
Office:Farmer 043
Office Hours:Mondays and Wednesdays 10:00 – 12:30, or by appointment.
 

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to parallel computing, covering topics including parallel architectures, programming techniques and libraries, the study of existing parallel computing systems, and performance analysis. Students will use a variety of hardware to explore current libraries and methods used for parallel programming.


 

Course Goals & Objectives


 

Student Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, students will be able to:
 

Grading Policy

Your grade will be determined as follows: The grading scale used for this course is as follows:

Late assignments will have a 10% reduction in grade for each day late. Lab assignments will be due at the end of the day of the class period after they are assigned. For example, labs given on Wednesday will be due at the end of the day Friday. There will be no make up for missed tests. If you cannot attend a test period, please contact me ahead of time to arrange another time to take it. Final grades will not be rounded up, and no extra credit opportunities will be given on an individual basis.

The University provides the opportunity to provide grading feedback midway through the semester. This will take into account your score on the mid-term exam and the programming projects submitted up to that point. Any student receiving less than a 65% on either of these will receive a "U" for their mid-semester grade. If this happens to you, please don't hesitate to talk with me about how we can improve your performance in this class.


 

Student Conduct


 

Honor Policy

Students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the letter and spirit of the UMW Honor Constitution, as well as the CPSC department honor policy. For this class in particular:

For labs, collaboration is OK. The goal of the labs is to ensure you understand the concepts we are going over.

For projects, you may discuss the ideas with other students, but all of your work must be your own. You must yourself write and understand everything in each assignment you submit. It is an honor code violation to copy directly from another student either by copy and paste or by transcription, or to copy from the web.

For exams, you can not talk to anyone during the exam, or use any kind of notes.

If you have any questions or need clarification, please don't hesitate to contact me!


 

Disability Statement

The Office of Disability Services has been designated by the University as the primary office to guide, counsel, and assist students with disabilities. If you already receive services through the Office of Disability Services and require accommodations for this class, make an appointment with me as soon as possible to discuss your approved accommodations needs. Please bring your accommodation letter with you to the appointment. I will hold any information you share with me in the strictest confidence unless you give me permission to do otherwise. If you have not contacted the Office of Disability Services and need accommodations, I will be happy to refer you. The office will require appropriate documentation of disability. Their phone number is 540-654-1266. The office is located in Seacobeck Hall.
 

Title IX Statement

The University of Mary Washington faculty are committed to supporting students and upholding the University's Policy on Sexual and Gender Based Harassment and Other Forms of Interpersonal Violence. Under Title IX and this Policy, discrimination based upon sex or gender is prohibited. If you experience an incident of sex or gender based discrimination, we encourage you to report it. While you may talk to me, understand that as a "Responsible Employee" of the University, I must report to UMW's Title IX Coordinator what you share. If you wish to speak to someone confidentially, please contact the below confidential resources. They can connect you with support services and help you explore your options. You may also seek assistance from UMW's Title IX Coordinator. Please visit http://diversity.umw.edu/title-ix/ to view UMW's Policy on Sexual and Gender Based Harassment and Other Forms of Interpersonal Violence and to find further information on support and resources.


 

Recording Statement

Classroom activities in this course may be recorded by student's enrolled in the course for the personal, educational use of that student or for all students presently enrolled in the class only, and may not be further copied, distributed, published or otherwise used for any other purpose without the express written consent of the course instructor. All students are advised that classroom activities may be taped by students for this purpose. Distribution or sale of class recordings is prohibited without the written permission of the instructor and other students who are recorded. Distribution without permission is a violation of copyright law. This policy is consistent with UMW's Policy on Recording Class and Distribution of Course Materials.


 

Tentative Schedule

Date Class Topic Assignment Due
August 22 Course Introduction
August 24 Parallel Hardware
August 26 Parallel Software
August 29 Introduction to Pthreads
August 31 Pthreads Continued
September 2 No class
September 5 Labor Day
September 7 Lab 1: Pthreads
September 9 Critical Sections & Mutexes
September 12 Semaphores
September 14 Lab 2: Thread Timing
September 16 Read-Write Locks
September 19 Lab 3: Deadlock
September 21 Barriers & Conditions
September 23 Travelling Salesman Problem
September 26 No class
September 28 Review & Catchup Knapsack Solver
September 30 Exam 1
October 3 Cache Systems
October 5 No class
October 7 Lab 4: False Sharing
October 10 Fall Break
October 12 Introduction to OpenMP
October 14 Reductions & Parallel For
October 17 Lab 5: OpenMP
October 19 Loop Scheduling
October 21 OpenMP Synchronization
October 24 Parallel Searching
October 26 Parallel Sorting
October 28 Exam 2
October 31 Introduction to MPI
November 2 MPI Continued Horizontal Image Blur
November 4 Lab 6: MPI
November 7 Collective Communication
November 9 Lab 7: Collective Communication
November 11 MPI Odds & Ends
November 14 Lab 8: MPI Deadlock
November 16 Distributed Sorting
November 18 Threads vs. Processes and Hybrid Forest Fire Simulation
November 21 The Julia Set
November 23 Thanksgiving Break
November 25 Thanksgiving Break
November 28 Introduction to CUDA
November 30 CUDA Continued
December 2 GPU Architecture Bin Packing
December 9 Final Exam, 8:30 - 11:00 AM

Copyright © 2024 Ian Finlayson | Licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 License.