Scalable execution of legacy scientific codes

Abstract

This paper presents Weaves, a language neutral framework for scalable execution of legacy parallel scientific codes. Weaves supports scalable threads of control and multiple namespaces with selective sharing of state within a single address space. We resort to two examples for illustration of different aspects of the framework and to stress the diversity of its application domains. The more expressive collaborating partial differential equation (PDE) solvers are used to exemplify developmental aspects, while freely available Sweep3D is used for performance results. We outline the framework in the context of shared memory systems, where its benefits are apparent. We also contrast Weaves against existing programming paradigms, present use cases, and outline its implementation. Preliminary performance tests show significant scalability over process-based implementations of Sweep3D. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.