An introduction to parallel programming using Message Passing with MPI

An introduction to parallel programming using Message Passing with MPI

Message Passing is presently the most widely deployed programming model in massively parallel high performance computing. Message passing is suitable for programming a wide range of current computer architectures, ranging from multi-core desk top equipment to the fastest HPC systems in the world, offering several hundred thousand processing elements.

This online course is at the beginners level and assumes no prior experience in parallel computing. The concepts behind message passing and distributed memory computing will be introduced and the syntax of the key MPI calls will be explained. The course will include point-to-point communications, non-blocking communication and the collective communications calls.  Live demonstrations and practical sessions to deepen the understanding of the lectures will be part of the course. At the end of the course participants should be able to write their own MPI programs at an intermediate level. The teaching language will be English.

The course forms part of the SNIC training program.  It is offered as a collaborative effort between C3SE, HPC2N, LUNARC and PDC with support from ENCCS.

Topics that will be covered:

• Basic concepts: message passing and distributed memory computing
• The syntax of the key MPI calls
• Point-to-point communications
• Non-blocking communication
• Collective communications calls.

There will be hands-ons to accompany the lectures.

The course is open to all users from the SNIC HPC centres and academics throughout the Nordic region. 

The material for the course can be found in the GitHub repository: 

https://github.com/SNIC-MPI-course/MPI-course 

Requirements:

• Basic knowledge of programming (C, C++, Fortran or Python).
• Basic knowledge of UNIX/LINUX is also required.
• For the hand-on part participants should have access to a laptop or desktop computer connected to the internet.   Participants utilising windows computers should install PuTTY (https://www.putty.org/) on their systems.  Users of LINUX and macOS should make sure they can access the UNIX terminal and that ssh is installed on their systems.

Time and date: 

The course will run from 1st till 4th December 2020.  The course will start at 09:00 and finish at 12:30 each day.
 

Location: 

The course will be taught over zoom.  A zoom link will be provided to registered participants prior to the event.

Instructors:

Several Application Experts from SNIC centres  C3SE, HPC2N, LUNARC and PDC.