Colorama: Architectural support for data-centric synchronization

Luis Ceze, Pablo Montesinos, Christoph Von Praun, Josep Torrellas

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

With the advent of ubiquitous multi-core architectures, a major challenge is to simplify parallel programming. One way to tame one of the main sources of programming complexity, namely synchronization, is transactional memory (TM). However, we argue that TM does not go far enough, since the programmer still needs non-local reasoning to decide where to place transactions in the code. A significant improvement to the art is Data-Centric Synchronization (DCS), where the programmer uses local reasoning to assign synchronization constraints to data. Based on these, the system automatically infers critical sections and inserts synchronization operations. This paper proposes novel architectural support to make DCS feasible, and describes its programming model and interface. The proposal, called Colorama, needs only modest hardware extensions, supports general-purpose, pointer-based languages such as C/C++ and, in our opinion, can substantially simplify the task of writing new parallel programs.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2007 IEEE 13th Annual International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture, HPCA-13
Pages133-144
Number of pages12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007
Event2007 IEEE 13th International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture, HPCA-13 - Scottsdale, AZ, United States
Duration: Feb 10 2007Feb 14 2007

Publication series

NameProceedings - International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture
ISSN (Print)1530-0897

Other

Other2007 IEEE 13th International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture, HPCA-13
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityScottsdale, AZ
Period2/10/072/14/07

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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