Parallel Processing

with OpenMP

Doug Sondak
Boston University
Scientific Computing and Visualization
Office of Information Technology
[email protected]
 Outline
• Introduction
• Basics
• Data Dependencies
• A Few More Basics
• Caveats & Compilation
• Coarse-Grained Parallelization
• Thread Control Diredtives
• Some Additional Functions
• Some Additional Clauses
• Nested Paralleliism
• Locks
Introduction
 Introduction
• Types of parallel machines
– distributed memory
• each processor has its own memory address space
• variable values are independent
x = 2 on one processor, x = 3 on a different processor
• examples: linux clusters, Blue Gene/L
– shared memory
• also called Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP)
• single address space for all processors
– If one processor sets x = 2 , x will also equal 2 on other
processors (unless specified otherwise)
• examples: IBM p-series, SGI Altix
Shared vs. Distributed Memory

CPU 0 CPU 1 CPU 2 CPU 3 CPU 0 CPU 1 CPU 2 CPU 3

MEM 0 MEM 1 MEM 2 MEM 3 MEM

distributed shared
Shared vs. Distributed Memory (cont’d)

• Multiple processes
– Each processor (typically) performs
independent task
• Multiple threads
– A process spawns additional tasks (threads)
with same memory address space
 What is OpenMP?

• Application Programming Interface (API)

for multi-threaded parallelization consisting
of
– Source code directives
– Functions
– Environment variables
 What is OpenMP? (cont’d)
• Advantages
– Easy to use
– Incremental parallelization
– Flexible
• Loop-level or coarse-grain
– Portable
• Since there’s a standard, will work on any SMP machine
• Disadvantage
– Shared-memory systems only
Basics
 Basics
• Goal – distribute work among threads
• Two methods will be discussed here
– Loop-level
• Specified loops are parallelized
• This is approach taken by automatic parallelization tools
– Parallel regions
• Sometimes called “coarse-grained”
• Don’t know good term; good way to start argument with
semantically precise people
• Usually used in message-passing (MPI)
 Basics (cont’d)

serial

loop

serial

loop

serial

Loop-level Parallel regions

 parallel do & parallel for

• parallel do (Fortran) and parallel for (C)

directives parallelize subsequent loop
Use “c$” for fixed-format Fortran

!$omp parallel do #pragma omp parallel for

do i = 1, maxi for(i = 1; i <= maxi; i++){
a(i) = b(i) + c(i) a[i] = b[i] = c[i];
enddo }
parallel do & parallel for (cont’d)

• Suppose maxi = 1000

Thread 0 gets i = 1 to 250

Thread 1 gets i = 251 to 500
etc.

• Barrier implied at end of loop

 workshare

• For Fortran 90/95 array syntax, the parallel

workshare directive is analogous to
parallel do
• Previous example would be:
!$omp parallel workshare
a = b + c
!$omp end parallel workshare

• Also works for forall and where statements

 Shared vs. Private
• In parallel region, default behavior is that
all variables are shared except loop index
– All threads read and write the same memory
location for each variable
– This is ok if threads are accessing different
elements of an array
– Problem if threads write same scalar or array
element
– Loop index is private, so each thread has its
own copy
 Shared vs. Private (cont’d)

• Here’s an example where a shared

variable, i2, could cause a problem
ifirst = 10
do i = 1, imax
i2 = 2*i
j(i) = ifirst + i2
enddo

ifirst = 10;
for(i = 1; i <= imax; i++){
i2 = 2*i;
j[i] = ifirst + i2;
}
 Shared vs. Private (3)

• OpenMP clauses modify the behavior of

directives
• Private clause creates separate memory
location for specified variable for each
thread
Shared vs. Private (4)
ifirst = 10
!$omp parallel do private(i2)
do i = 1, imax
i2 = 2*i
j(i) = ifirst + i2
enddo

ifirst = 10;
#pragma omp parallel for private(i2)
for(i = 1; i <= imax; i++){
i2 = 2*i;
j[i] = ifirst + i2;
}
 Shared vs. Private (5)

• Look at memory just before and after

parallel do/parallel for statement
– Let’s look at two threads

before after
ifirst = 10 spawn ifirst = 10
…

…
additional
i2thread 0 = ??? thread i2thread 0 = ???

…
i2thread 1 = ???
 Shared vs. Private (6)

• Both threads access the same shared

value of ifirst
• They have their own private copies of i2

ifirst = 10
Thread 0 Thread 1
…

i2thread 0 = ???
…

i2thread 1 = ???
Data Dependencies
 Data Dependencies

• Data on one thread can be dependent on

data on another thread
• This can result in wrong answers
– thread 0 may require a variable that is
calculated on thread 1
– answer depends on timing – When thread 0
does the calculation, has thread 1 calculated
it’s value yet?
 Data Dependencies (cont’d)
• Example – Fibonacci Sequence
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, …
a(1) = 0
a(2) = 1
do i = 3, 100
a(i) = a(i-1) + a(i-2)
enddo

a[1] = 0;
a[2] = 1;
for(i = 3; i <= 100; i++){
a[i] = a[i-1] + a[i-2];
}
 Data Dependencies (3)
• parallelize on 2 threads
– thread 0 gets i = 3 to 51
– thread 1 gets i = 52 to 100
– look carefully at calculation for i = 52 on
thread 1
• what will be values of for i -1 and i - 2 ?
 Data Dependencies (4)

• A test for dependency:

– if serial loop is executed in reverse order, will
it give the same result?
– if so, it’s ok
– you can test this on your serial code
 Data Dependencies (5)
• What about subprogram calls?
do i = 1, 100 for(i = 0; i < 100; i++){
call mycalc(i,x,y) mycalc(i,x,y);
enddo }

• Does the subprogram write x or y to memory?

– If so, they need to be private
• Variables local to subprogram are local to each
thread
• Be careful with global variables and common
blocks
A Few More Basics
 More clauses

• Can make private default rather than

shared
– Fortran only
– handy if most of the variables are private
– can use continuation characters for long lines
ifirst = 10
!$omp parallel do &
!$omp default(private) &
!$omp shared(ifirst,imax,j)
do i = 1, imax
i2 = 2*i
j(i) = ifirst + i2
enddo
 More clauses (cont’d)

• Can use default none

– declare all variables (except loop variables)
as shared or private
– If you don’t declare any variables, you get a
handy list of all variables in loop
 More clauses (3)
ifirst = 10
!$omp parallel do &
!$omp default(none) &
!$omp shared(ifirst,imax,j) &
!$omp private(i2)
do i = 1, imax
i2 = 2*i
j(i) = ifirst + i2
enddo

ifirst = 10;
#pragma omp parallel for \
default(none) \
shared(ifirst,imax,j) \
private(i2)
for(i = 0; i < imax; i++){
i2 = 2*i;
j[i] = ifirst + i2;
}
 Firstprivate

• Suppose we need a running index total for

each index value on each thread
iper = 0 iper = 0;
do i = 1, imax for(i = 0; i < imax; i++){
iper = iper + 1 iper = iper + 1;
j(i) = iper j[i] = iper;
enddo }

• if iper were declared private, the initial

value would not be carried into the loop
 Firstprivate (cont’d)

• Solution – firstprivate clause

• Creates private memory location for each
thread
• Copies value from master thread (thread
0) to each memory location
iper = 0 iper = 0;
!$omp parallel do & #pragma omp parallel for \
!$omp firstprivate(iper) firstprivate(iper)
do i = 1, imax for(i = 0; i < imax; i++){
iper = iper + 1 iper = iper + 1;
j(i) = iper j[i] = iper;
enddo }
 Lastprivate

• saves value corresponding to the last loop

index
– "last" in the serial sense

!$omp parallel do lastprivate(i) #pragma omp parallel for \

do i = 1, maxi-1 lastprivate(i)
a(i) = b(i) for(i = 0; i < maxi-1; i++){
enddo a[i] = b[i];
a(i) = b(1) }
a(i) = b(1);
 Reduction

• following example won’t parallelize

correctly with parallel do/parallel for
– different threads may try to write to sum1
simultaneously
sum1 = 0.0
do i = 1, maxi
sum1 = sum1 + a(i)
enddo

sum1 = 0.0;
for(i = 0; i < imaxi; i++){
sum1 = sum1 + a[i];
}
 Reduction (cont’d)
• Solution? – Reduction clause

sum1 = 0.0 sum1 = 0;

!$omp parallel do & ! #pragma omp parallel for \
$reduction(+:sum1) reduction(+:sum1)
do i = 1, maxi for(i = 0; i < imaxi; i++){
sum1 = sum1 + a(i) sum1 = sum1 + a[i];
enddo }

• each thread performs its own reduction (sum, in

this case)
• results from all threads are automatically
reduced (summed) at the end of the loop
 Reduction (3)

• Fortran operators/intrinsics: MAX, MIN,

IAND, IOR, IEOR,
+, *, -, .AND., .OR., .EQV., .NEQV.
• C operators: +, *, -, /, &, ^, |, &&, ||
• roundoff error may be different than serial
case
 num_threads

• Number of threads for subsequent loop

can be specified with num_threads(n)
clause
– n is number of threads
 Conditional Compilation
• Fortran: if compiled without OpenMP, directives are
treated as comments
– Great for portability
• !$ (c$ for fixed format) can be used for conditional
compilation for any source lines
!$ print*, ‘number of procs =', nprocs
• C or C++: conditional compilation can be performed with
the _OPENMP macro name.
#ifdef _OPENMP
… do stuff …
#endif
 Basic OpenMP Functions
• omp_get_thread_num()
– returns ID of current thread
• omp_set_num_threads(nthreads)
– subroutine in Fortran
– sets number of threads in next parallel region to
nthreads
– alternative to OMP_NUM_THREADS environment
variable
– overrides OMP_NUM_THREADS
• omp_get_num_threads()
– returns number of threads in current parallel region
Caveats and Compilation
 Some Hints
• OpenMP will do what you tell it to do
– If you try parallelize a loop with a dependency, it will go
ahead and do it!
• Do not parallelize small loops
– Overhead will be greater than speedup
– How small is “small”?
• Answer depends on processor speed and other system-
dependent parameters
• Try it!
• Maximize number of operations performed in
parallel
– parallelize outer loops where possible
 Some Hints (cont’d)
• Always profile your code before parallelizing!
– tells where most time is being used
• Portland Group profiler:
– compile with –Mprof=func flag
– run code
• file with profile data will appear in working directory
– run profiler:
• pgprof –exe executable-name
• GUI will pop up with profiling information
 Compile and Run
• Portland Group compilers (katana):
– Compile with -mp flag
– Can use up to 8 threads
• AIX compilers (twister, etc.):
– Use an _r suffix on the compiler name, e.g., cc_r,
xlf90_r
– Compile with -qsmp=omp flag
• Intel compilers (skate, cootie):
– Compile with -openmp and –fpp flags
– Can only use 2 threads
 Compile and Run (cont’d)
• GNU compilers (all machines):
– Compile with -fopenmp flag
• Blue Gene does not accomodate OpenMP
• environment variable OMP_NUM_THREADS
sets number of threads
setenv OMP_NUM_THREADS 4
• for C, include omp.h
 Exercise
• Copy files from /scratch/sondak/gt
– both C and Fortran versions are available for your
programming pleasure
• compile code with pgcc or pgf90
– include profiling flag –Mprof=func
– call executable “gt”
• Run code batch
– qsub rungt
– qstat –u username
 Exercise (cont’d)
• When run completes, look at profile
– pgprof –exe gt
– Where is most time being used?
– How can we tackle this with OpenMP?
• Recompile without profiler flag
• Re-run and note timing from batch output file
– this is the base timing
• We will decide on an OpenMP strategy
• Add OpenMP directive(s)
• Re-run on 1, 2, and 4 procs. and check new
timings
 Parallel
• parallel and do/for can be separated into two directives.
!$omp parallel do #pragma omp parallel for
do i = 1, maxi for(i=0; i<maxi; i++){
a(i) = b(i) a[i] = b[i];
enddo }

is the same as

!$omp parallel #pragma omp parallel

!$omp do #pragma omp for
do i = 1, maxi for(i=0; i<maxi; i++){
a(i) = b(i) a[i] = b[i];
enddo }
!$omp end parallel #pragma omp end parallel
 Parallel (cont’d)
• Note that an end parallel directive is required.
• Everything within the parallel region will be run in
parallel (surprise!).
• The do/for directive indicates that the loop
indices will be distributed among threads rather
than duplicating every index on every thread.
 Parallel (3)
• Multiple loops in parallel region:
!$omp parallel #pragma omp parallel
!$omp do #pragma omp for
do i = 1, maxi for(i=0; i<maxi; i++){
a(i) = b(i) a[i] = b[i];
enddo }
!$omp do #pragma omp for
do i = 1, maxi for(i=0; i<maxi; i++){
c(i) = a(2) c[i] = a[2];
enddo }
!$omp end parallel #pragma omp end parallel

• parallel directive has a significant overhead associated

with it.
• The above example has the potential to be faster than
using two parallel do/parallel for directives.
 Coarse-Grained
• OpenMP is not restricted to loop-level (fine-
grained) parallelism.
• The !$omp parallel or #pragma omp parallel
directive duplicates subsequent code on all
threads until a !$omp end parallel or #pragma
omp end parallel directive is encountered.
• Allows parallelization similar to “MPI paradigm.”
Coarse-Grained (cont’d)
!$omp parallel &
!$omp private(myid,istart,iend,nthreads,nper)
nthreads = omp_get_num_threads()
nper = imax/nthreads
myid = omp_get_thread_num()
istart = myid*nper + 1
iend = istart + nper – 1
call do_work(istart,iend)
do i = istart, iend
a(i) = b(i)*c(i) + ...
enddo
!$omp end parallel

#pragma omp parallel \

#pragma omp private(myid,istart,iend,nthreads,nper)
nthreads = OMP_GET_NUM_THREADS();
nper = imax/nthreads;
myid = OMP_GET_THREAD_NUM();
istart = myid*nper;
iend = istart + nper – 1;
do_work(istart,iend);
for(i=istart; i<=iend; i++){
a[i] = b[i]*c[i] + ...
}
#pragma omp end parallel
Thread Control Directives
 Barrier
• barrier synchronizes threads
$omp parallel private(myid,istart,iend)
call myrange(myid,istart,iend)
do i = istart, iend
a(i) = a(i) - b(i)
enddo
!$omp barrier
myval(myid+1) = a(istart) + a(1)

#pragma omp parallel

private(myid,istart,iend)
myrange(myid,istart,iend);
for(i=istart; i<=iend; i++){
a[i] = a[i] – b[i];
}
#pragma omp barrier
myval[myid] = a[istart] + a[0]

• Here barrier assures that a(1) or a[0] is available before

computing myval
 Master
• if you want part of code to be executed
only on master thread, use master
directive
• “non-master” threads will skip over master
region and continue
Master Example - Fortran

!$OMP PARALLEL PRIVATE(myid,istart,iend)

call myrange(myid,istart,iend)
do i = istart, iend
a(i) = a(i) - b(i)
enddo
!$OMP BARRIER
!$OMP MASTER
write(21) a
!$OMP END MASTER
call do_work(istart,iend)
!$OMP END PARALLEL
 Master Example - C

#pragma omp parallel private(myid,istart,iend)

myrange(myid,istart,iend);
for(i=istart; i<=iend; i++){
a[i] = a[i] – b[i];
}
#pragma omp barrier
#pragma omp master
fwrite(fid,sizeof(float),iend-istart+1,a);
#pragma omp end master
do_work(istart,iend);
#pragma omp end parallel
 Single
• want part of code to be executed only by a
single thread
• don’t care whether or not it’s the master
thread
• use single directive
• Unlike the end master directive, end single
implies a barrier.
Single Example - Fortran
!$OMP PARALLEL PRIVATE(myid,istart,iend)
call myrange(myid,istart,iend)
do i = istart, iend
a(i) = a(i) - b(i)
enddo
!$OMP BARRIER
!$OMP SINGLE
write(21) a
!$OMP END SINGLE
call do_work(istart,iend)
!$OMP END PARALLEL
 Single Example - C
#pragma omp parallel private(myid,istart,iend)
myrange(myid,istart,iend);
for(i=istart; i<=iend; i++){
a[i] = a[i] – b[i];
}
#pragma omp barrier
#pragma omp single
fwrite(fid,sizeof(float),nvals,a);
#pragma omp end single
do_work(istart,iend);
#pragma omp end parallel
 Critical
• have section of code that:
1. must be executed by every thread
2. threads may execute in any order
3. threads must not execute simultaneously
• use critical directive
• no implied barrier
Critical Example - Fortran
!$OMP PARALLEL PRIVATE(myid,istart,iend)
call myrange(myid,istart,iend)
do i = istart, iend
a(i) = a(i) - b(i)
enddo
!$OMP CRITICAL
call mycrit(myid,a)
!$OMP END CRITICAL
call do_work(istart,iend)
!$OMP END PARALLEL
 Critical Example - C
#pragma omp parallel private(myid,istart,iend)
myrange(myid,istart,iend);
for(i=istart; i<=iend; i++){
a[i] = a[i] – b[i];
}
#pragma omp critical
mycrit(myid,a);
#pragma omp end critical
do_work(istart,iend);
#pragma omp end parallel
 Ordered
• Suppose you want to write values in a loop:
do i = 1, nproc
call do_lots_of_work(result(i))
write(21,101) i, result(i)
enddo

for(i = 0; i < nproc; i++){

do_lots_of_work(result[i]);
fprintf(fid,”%d %f\n,”i,result[i]”);
}

• If loop were parallelized, could write out of order

• ordered directive forces serial order
 Ordered (cont’d)
!$omp parallel do
do i = 1, nproc
call do_lots_of_work(result(i))
!$omp ordered
write(21,101) i, result(i)
!$omp end ordered
enddo

#pragma omp parallel for

for(i = 0; i < nproc; i++){
do_lots_of_work(result[i]);
#pragma omp ordered
fprintf(fid,”%d %f\n,”i,result[i]”);
#pragma omp end ordered
}
 Ordered (3)

• since do_lots_of_work takes a lot of time,

most parallel benefit will be realized
• ordered is helpful for debugging
– Is result same with and without ordered
directive?
 Sections
• In parallel region, have several independent
tasks
• Divide code into sections
• Each section is executed on a different thread.
• Implied barrier
• Fixes number of threads
• Note that sections directive delineates region
of code which includes section directives.
Sections Example - Fortran

!$OMP PARALLEL
!$OMP SECTIONS
!$OMP SECTION
call init_field(a)
!$OMP SECTION
call check_grid(x)
!$OMP END SECTIONS
!$OMP END PARALLEL
 Sections Example - C

#pragma omp parallel

#pragma omp sections
#pragma omp section
init_field(a);
#pragma omp section
check_grid(x);
#pragma omp end sections
#pragma omp end parallel
 Parallel Sections
• Analogous to do and parallel do or for and
parallel for, along with sections there exists a
parallel sections directive.
Parallel Sections Example - Fortran

!$OMP PARALLEL SECTIONS

!$OMP SECTION
call init_field(a)
!$OMP SECTION
call check_grid(x)
!$OMP END PARALLEL SECTIONS
Parallel Sections Example - C

#pragma omp parallel sections

#pragma omp section
init_field(a);
#pragma omp section
check_grid(x);
#pragma omp end parallel sections
 Task
• Parallel sections are established upon
compilation
– Number of threads is fixed
• Sometimes more flexibility is needed, such as
parallelism within if or while block
• Task directive will assign tasks to threads as
needed
Task Example - Fortran

!$OMP PARALLEL
!$OMP SINGLE
p = listhead
do while(p)
!$OMP TASK
process(p)
!$OMP END TASK
p = next(p)
enddo
!$OMP END SINGLE
!$OMP END
 Task Example - C

#pragma omp parallel

{
#pragma omp single
{
p = listhead;
while(p) {
#pragma omp task
process(p);
p = next(p);
}
}
}
 Threadprivate
• Only needed for Fortran
– Usually legacy code
• common block variables are inherently shared,
may want them to be private
• threadprivate gives each thread its own private
copy of variables in specified common block.
– Keep memory use in mind
• Place threadprivate after common block
declaration.
 Threadprivate (cont’d)

common /work1/ work(1000)

!$omp threadprivate(/work1/)
 Copyin
• threadprivate renders all values in common
block private
• may want to use some current values of
variables on all threads
• copyin initializes each thread’s copy of
specified common-block variables with values
form the master thread
 Copyin Example - Fortran
real, parameter :: nvals = 501 subroutine metric(c)
real, dimension(nvals) :: x, y, xmet, ymet real, dimension(:) :: c
common /work1/ work(nvals), istart, iend common /work1/ work(nvals), istart, iend
!$OMP THREADPRIVATE(/work1/) !$OMP THREADPRIVATE(/work1/)
istart = 2; iend = 500 do i = istart, iend
call read_coords(x,y) work(i) = 0.5*(c(i+1)-c(i-1))
!$OMP PARALLEL SECTIONS enddo
COPYIN(istart,iend) end subroutine metric
!$OMP SECTION
call metric(x)
xmet = work
!$OMP SECTION
call metric(y)
ymet = work
!$OMP END PARALLEL SECTIONS
 Atomic
• Similar to critical
– Allows greater optimization than critical
• Applies to single line following the atomic
directive
Atomic Example - Fortran

do i = 1, 10
!$OMP ATOMIC
x(j(i)) = x(j(i)) + 1.0
enddo
Atomic Example - C

for(i = 0; i<10; i++){

#pragma omp atomic
x[j[i]]= x[j[i]] + 1.0;
}
 Flush
• Different threads can have different values for
the same shared variable
– example – value in register
• flush assures that the calling thread has a
consistent view of memory
• upcoming example is from OpenMP spec
Flush Example - Fortran
integer isync(num_threads)
!$omp parallel default(private) shared(isync)
iam = omp_get_thread_num()
isync(iam) = 0
!$omp barrier
call work()
isync(iam) = 1
! let other threads know I finished work
!$omp flush(isync)
do while(isync(neigh) == 0)
!$omp flush(isync)
enddo
$omp end parallel
 Flush Example - C
int isync[num_threads];
#pragma omp parallel default(private) shared(isync)
iam = omp_get_thread_num();
isync[iam] = 0;
#pragma omp barrier
work();
isync[iam] = 1;
/* let other threads know I finished work */
#pragma omp flush(isync)
while(isync[neigh] == 0)
#pragma omp flush(isync)
#pragma omp end parallel
Some Additional Functions
 Dynamic Thread Assignment
• On some systems the number of threads
available to you may be adjusted dynamically.
• The number of threads requested can be
construed as the maximum number of threads
available.
• Dynamic threading can be turned on or off:
logical mydyn = .false.
call omp_set_dynamic(mydyn)

int mydyn = 0;
omp_set_dynamic(mydyn);
 Dynamic Thread Assignment (cont’d)
• Dynamic threading can also be turned on or off
by setting the environment variable
omp_dynamic to true or false
– call to omp_set_dynamic overrides the environment
variable
• The function omp_get_dynamic() returns a
value of “true” or “false,” indicating whether
dynamic threading is turned on or off.
 OMP_GET_MAX_THREADS
• integer function
• returns maximum number of threads available
in current parallel region
• same result as omp_get_num_threads if
dynamic threading is turned off
 OMP_GET_NUM_PROCS
• integer function
• returns maximum number of processors in the
system
– indicates amount of hardware, not number of
available processors
• could be used to make sure enough
processors are available for specified number
of sections
 OMP_IN_PARALLEL
• logical function
• tells whether or not function was called from a
parallel region
• useful debugging device when using
“orphaned” directives
– example of orphaned directive: omp parallel in
“main,” omp do or omp for in routine called from main
Some Additional Clauses
 Collapse

• collapse(n) allows parallelism over n

contiguously nested loops
Collapse Example - Fortran

!$omp parallel do collapse(2)

do j = 1, nval
do i = 1, nval
ival(i,j) = i + j
enddo
enddo
Collapse Example - C

#pragma omp parallel for collapse(2)

for(j=0; j<nval; j++){
for(i=0; i<nval; i++){
ival[i][j] = i + j;
}
}
 Schedule

• schedule refers to the way in which loop

indices are distributed among threads
• default is static, which we had seen in an
earlier example
– each thread is assigned a contiguous range of
indices in order of thread number
• called round robin
– number of indices assigned to each thread is
as equal as possible
 Schedule (cont’d)
• static example
– loop runs from 1 to 51, 4 threads

thread indices no. indices

0 1-13 13

1 14-26 13

2 27-39 13

3 40-51 12
 Schedule (3)
• number of indices doled out at a time to each
thread is called the chunk size
• can be modified with the SCHEDULE clause

!$omp do schedule(static,5)

#pragma omp for schedule(static,5)

 Schedule (4)
• example – same as previous example (loop runs
from 1-51, 4 threads), but set chunk size to 5

thread chunk 1 chunk 2 chunk 3 no.

indices indices indices indices
0 1-5 21-25 41-45 15
1 6-10 26-30 46-50 15
2 11-15 31-35 51 11
3 16-20 36-40 - 10
 Dynamic Schedule
• schedule(dynamic) clause assigns chunks to
threads dynamically as the threads become
available for more work
• default chunk size is 1
• higher overhead than STATIC

!$omp do schedule(dynamic,5)

#pragma omp for

schedule(dynamic,5)
 Guided Schedule
• schedule(guided) clause assigns chunks
automatically, exponentially decreasing chunk
size with each assignment
• specified chunk size is the minimum chunk size
except for the last chunk, which can be of any
size
• default chunk size is 1
 Runtime Schedule
• schedule can be specified through
omp_schedule environment variable

setenv omp_schedule “dynamic,5”

• the schedule(runtime) clause tells it to set the

schedule using the environment variable

!$omp do schedule(runtime)

#pragma omp for schedule(runtime)

Nested Parallelism
 Nested Parallelism
• parallel construct within parallel construct:

!$omp parallel do #pragma omp parallel for

do j = 1, jmax for(j=0; j<jmax; j++){
!$omp parallel do #pragma omp parallel for
do i = 1, i,max for(i=0; i<imax; i++){
call do_work(i,j) do_work(i,j);
enddo }
enddo }
 Nested Parallelism (cont’d)
• OpenMP standard allows but does not require
nested parallelism
• if nested parallelism is not implemented,
previous examples are legal, but the inner loop
will be serial
• logical function omp_get_nested()
returns .true. or .false. (1 or 0) to indicate
whether or not nested parallelism is enabled in
the current region
 Nested Parallelism (3)
• omp_set_nested(nest) enables/disables
nested parallelism if argument is true/false
– subroutine in Fortran (.true./.false.)
– function in C (1/0)
• nested parallelism can also be turned on or off
by setting the environment variable
omp_nested to true or false
– calls to omp_set_nested override the environment
variable
Locks
 Locks
• Locks offer additional control of threads
• a thread can take/release ownership of a lock
over a specified region of code
• when a lock is owned by a thread, other
threads cannot execute the locked region
• can be used to perform useful work by one or
more threads while another thread is engaged
in a serial task
 Lock Routines
• Lock routines each have a single argument
– argument type is an integer (Fortran) or a pointer to
an integer (C) long enough to hold an address
– OpenMP pre-defines required types

integer(omp_lock_kind) :: mylock

omp_nest_lock_t *mylock;
 Lock Routines (cont’d)
• omp_init_lock(mylock)
– initializes mylock
– must be called before mylock is used
– subroutine in Fortran
• omp_set_lock(mylock)
– gives ownership of mylock to calling thread
– other threads cannot execute code following call
until mylock is released
– subroutine in Fortran
 Lock Routines (3)
• omp_test_lock(mylock)
– logical function
– if mylock is presently owned by another
thread, returns false
– if mylock is available, returns true and sets
lock, i.e., gives ownership to calling
thread
– be careful: omp_test_lock(mylock)does
more than just test the lock
 Lock Routines (4)
• omp_unset_lock(mylock)
– releases ownership of mylock
– subroutine in Fortran
• omp_destroy_lock(mylock)
– call when you’re done with the lock
– complement to omp_init_lock(mylock)
– subroutine in Fortran
 Lock Example
• an independent task takes a significant
amount of time, and it must be performed
serially
• another task, independent of the first,
may be performed in parallel
• improve parallel efficiency by doing both
tasks at the same time
• one thread locks serial task
• other threads work on parallel task until
serial task is complete
Lock Example - Fortran
call omp_init_lock(mylock)
!$omp parallel
if(omp_test_lock(mylock)) then
call long_serial_task
call omp_unset_lock(mylock)
else
dowhile(.not. omp_test_lock(mylock))
call short_parallel_task
enddo
call omp_unset_lock(mylock)
endif
!$omp end parallel
call omp_destroy_lock(mylock)
 Lock Example C
omp_init_lock(mylock);
#pragma omp parallel
if(omp_test_lock(mylock)){
long_serial_task();
omp_unset_lock(mylock);
}else{
while(! omp_test_lock(mylock)){
short_parallel_task();
}
omp_unset_lock(mylock);
}
#pragma omp end parallel omp_destroy_lock(mylock);
 Survey
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tutorial at
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