A MESSAGE-PASSING CLASS LIBRARY C++ FOR PORTABLE PARALLEL PROGRAMMING

An object-oriented message-passing class library in C++, called PPI++, for portable parallel programming has been developed. PPI++ (parallel portability interface in C++) is designed to serve as a stable (uncha nging) interface between the client parallel code and the rapidly evol ving distributed computing environments. By taking advantage of encaps ulation, inheritance, and polymorphism supported by C++, PPI++ provide s a clean and consistent programming interface, which helps improve th e clarity and expressiveness of client parallel codes and hides implem entation details and complexity from the user to ease parallel program ming tasks. In addition, the use of strong type-checking in C++ allows the detection of potential misuses of the library at compile time, an d thus promotes code reliability. This paper describes the object-orie nted design and implementation of PPI++. Evaluation of PPI++ on import ant performance issues, such as portability, ease-of-use, extensibilit y, and efficiency, is also discussed.