Fortran Multi-processing Application Development

Writing programs that run on multiple processors and take maximum advantage of the hardware can be a complex task. Debugging and tuning these programs is even more difficult. The SGI® developer environment is specifically designed to facilitate the development of parallel programs. The ProDev Fortran bundle creates a powerful development environment:

  • APO--automatic and user-directed parallelization of code.
  • MIPSpro™ Fortran Compiler--optimizing Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 MIPSpro compilers support portability by adhering to industry standards
  • ProDev™ WorkShop--a suite of tools that support the debugging of parallelized programs and performance analysis of each thread which the parallelized program executes
MIPSpro Fortran Compilers
This 64-bit ANSI Fortran 77 compiler is ideal for systems running IRIX® 6.x. It is compatible with VAX/VMS Fortran and supports Cray extensions. The 7.4 version of the MIPSpro Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 compilers now support the OpenMP™ 2.0 standard. Among the new features introduced in the OpenMP 2.0 specification are:

  • WORKSHARE directive
  • COPYPRIVATE clause for the broadcast of sequential reads
  • Portable timing routines

MIPSpro Fortran 90 Compiler
A 64 bit ANSI Fortran 90 compiler with additional support for user-defined multiprocessing directives for systems running IRIX 6.x. Compatible with VAX/VMS Fortran and supports Cray extensions. With the release of version 7.4, Fortran 90 specific support under the OpenMP 2.0 standard are:

  • Parallelization of F90 array syntax via the WORKSHARE directive
  • Privatization of deferred shape and assumed shape objects

The full Fortran 2.0 specification can obtained from the OpenMP Web site at: http://www.openmp.org

For more information, read about the MIPSpro compilers.

ProDev WorkShop
The ProDev WorkShop programming environment is specifically designed to handle the debugging and tuning of OpenMP programs.

Multiprocess Debugger
The multiprocess view of the debugger allows users to more easily debug parallelized programs. This view allows users to set breakpoints at the creation of a new process, handle sprocs and threads. OpenMP view also provides a separate debugging view for each thread of the program.

Performance Analyzer
The ProDev WorkShop Performance Analyzer has several views. All of the views can be used to look at performance of each thread of an executing program.

  • Resource usage view--helps identify CPU and I/0 bottlenecks
  • Function list--shows the performance cost of each function
  • Call graph view--displays function relationships during execution (e.g., who called whom and how often)
  • I/O view--displays I/O activity on a file-descriptor basis
Performance Data Sampling Paradigm
The ProDev WorkShop Performance Analyzer utilizes a sampling paradigm that allows the collection of performance data at specified points during program execution and analysis of that data during the different phases of the program execution. The sampling paradigm is critical for very large programs as it allows for analysis of specific portions of the program and tuning of each portion individually. Combined, these tools provide a superb environment for facilitating the development of applications to run on MP systems. Whether you are an experienced MP application developer or are trying to write your first MP program, the SGI® MP development tools provide you with the functionality you need to take advantage of all of the power of your systems. Fortran Documentation online

To purchase SGI developer products, contact your local sales office or call SGI at (800) 800-7441.