Parallel Programming

In this example project, we’ll explore some concepts related to parallel programming. You won’t be expected to actually create a fully parallel program in this course, but it is helpful to explore these concepts and see how they impact our program’s performance.

The next page will discuss the overall requirements that this example project should include. After that, there is a page for each programming language with some basic steps and a video to walk you through the whole process.

For these example projects, you’ll be given some starter code via the GitHub Classroom assignment, so make sure you’ve accepted the assignment and created your repository in GitHub first.

Good luck!

Subsections of Parallel Programming

Assignment Requirements

This page lists the example project requirements for Example 7A in CC 410. Read the requirements carefully and discuss any questions with the instructors or TAs.

Purpose

This example will cover some concepts related to parallel programming. This is meant to be an exploratory project only, so requirements are very loose.

General Requirements

  • No style or documentation requirements will be enforced for this example.

Assignment Requirements

  • ParallelOne
    • Update ParallelOne following the video to use 4 Threads.
    • Run the program a few times and observe a race condition. Take a screenshot of the race condition and store it in a file named race in the project folder.
    • Update ParallelOne to properly use locks to prevent a race condition.
    • Run the program a few times and verify that no race condition occurs. Take a screenshot of the program running correctly and store it in a file named lock in the project folder.
    • See Take a Screenshot on Wikihow for details on how to take a screenshot. On Windows, you can use the “Snipping Tool” to grab only a portion of the screen.
    • See Uploading Files in the Codio documentation for how to upload a screenshot.
  • ParallelTwo
    • Update ParallelTwo following the video to handle blocking and an arbitrary number of threads.
    • Run the program with varying numbers of threads (1 - 10 recommended) and graph the number of threads vs. the time taken.
    • Submit your graph as an image file named graph in the project folder.
    • See How to Make a Single Line Graph in Excel for instructions.
  • Based on the results of the ParallelTwo exercise, write a short blurb in a README.md file in the project folder:
    • How did the number of threads impact amount of time taken to complete the work?
    • What does that result tell us about the hardware available on the Codio system?

See below for some example screenshots and graphs. The sample graph shows results for both Java and Python, but your graph will only include one language.

Time Requirements

Completing this project is estimated to require 1 hour.

Grading Rubric

This assignment will be graded based on the rubric below:

  • Updates to ParallelOne - 30%
  • race screenshot - 10%
  • lock screenshot - 10%
  • Updates to ParallelTwo - 20%
  • graph image - 20%
  • README.md file - 10%

The following deductions apply:

  • Any portion of the project which will not compile (Java), pass a strict type check (Python), or execute properly will be given a grade of 0.

This is not an exhaustive list of possible deductions. The instructors will strive to provide reasonable and fair grading, but we can’t predict all possible defects. It is up to the student to ensure that the project is complete and correct before submission.

Submission

Submit this assignment by creating a release on GitHub and uploading the release URL to the assignment on Canvas. You should not submit this Codio project or mark it as complete in Codio, in case you need to come back to it and make changes later.

Sample Screenshots

Race

Race Screenshot Race Screenshot

Lock

Lock Screenshot Lock Screenshot

Graph

Graph Graph

Java

YouTube Video

Outline

Here is a basic outline of the steps to follow to complete this example.

  1. Clone Starter Code from GitHub
git clone <url> java

  1. Update ParallelOne to use 4 threads.

  2. Take a screenshot showing a race condition.

  3. Update ParallelOne to use a lock.

  4. Take a screenshot showing no race condition.

  5. Update ParallelTwo to use blocking and an arbitrary number of threads.

  6. Run several times with different number of threads (1 - 10) and graph results.

  7. Write in README.md to answer two questions

  8. When complete, use Git to commit and push updated code.

git add .
git commit -m "Example Complete"
git push
  1. On GitHub, create a release tag and submit URL to Canvas for grading.

Compiling and Running Java

Recall that you can compile a Java program using javac:

javac ParallelOne.java

You can then run it using java:

java ParallelOne

Python

YouTube Video

Outline

Here is a basic outline of the steps to follow to complete this example.

  1. Clone Starter Code from GitHub
git clone <url> python

  1. Update ParallelOne to use 4 threads.

  2. Take a screenshot showing a race condition.

  3. Update ParallelOne to use a lock.

  4. Take a screenshot showing no race condition.

  5. Update ParallelTwo to use blocking and an arbitrary number of threads.

  6. Run several times with different number of threads (1 - 10) and graph results.

  7. Write in README.md to answer two questions

  8. When complete, use Git to commit and push updated code.

git add .
git commit -m "Example Complete"
git push
  1. On GitHub, create a release tag and submit URL to Canvas for grading.

5.18.0

Last modified by: Russell Feldhausen Apr 14, 2023