DATA PARALLELISM IN C++ TEMPLATE PROGRAMS: A BARNES-HUT CASE STUDY

Abstract

We describe how C++ programs that use the Standard Template Library (STL) can be systematically parallelized for shared-memory machines. We present our data-parallel template library (DatTeL) and its use in introducing parallelism into sequential STL programs. As a case study, we demonstrate how an STL implementation of the Barnes-Hut algorithm for solving many-body problems can be systematically transformed into a parallel, efficient version using DatTeL. We present experimental results for the multi-threaded version of the resulting parallel program on a SunFire multiprocessor.