Static Analysis of Communication Structures in Parallel Programs

Abstract

Channel-based message passing provides a simple and modular communication abstraction in parallel programs. Parallel programming language CCC provides four types of channels: pipes for one-to-one communication, spliters for one-to-many communication, mergers for many-to-one communication, and multiplexers for many-to-many communication. The abundance of channel types gives several merits. First, communication structures among parallel tasks are more comprehensive. Second, the specification of communication structures is easier. Third, the implementation of communication structures is more efficient. Fourth, the static analysis of communication structures is more effective. This paper describes a simple algorithm for static analysis of communication structures in CCC programs. This algorithm can be also applied to other parallel programming systems based on channel-based message passing.