Pattern Programming Project

The underlying goal of the Pattern Programming Project is to explore the use of pattern programming in parallel and distributed computing.  Pattern programming is a higher level of abstraction than using low-level parallel programming tools such as MPI, OpenMP, and OpenCL, and offers the prospect of ease of programmability, salability, and improved performance.  I am looking for students who might help develop educational materials, particularly using the "Seeds" pattern programming framework (also called "Parallel Grid Application Framework") .

The work could be done in an undergraduate capstone project (ITCS 4650/51/81/82, ITCS 4990/91), graduate level ITCS 6880 Individual Study, or MS thesis (ITCS 6991) project with greater scope for graduate projects. The project could develop programming assignments that can be used in the class, develop tutorials, and documentation. Alternatively the work could use the pattern programming approach to solve a distributed computing application to extend our understanding of pattern programming. We have had one MS thesis project using the Seeds framework to solve a DNA bioinformatics algorithm (Sauvav Bhattarai, graduated with an MS in CS  2011).  A UNC-Charlotte PhD student Jeremy Villalobos (graduated with a PhD in 2011) developed the framework and its implementation.  The framework uses Java and you would need to proficient in Java to use the framework.

If you are proficient in C/C++, I would also be interesed in work that explores using patterns with traditional C based tools such as MPI, OpenMP, or CUDA/OpenCL (or even the Intel tools TBB or Cilk Plus) but still with the goal of developing educational materials.

In any event, I would expect to meet students on a weekly basis during the semester.

The home page for our pattern programming framework is:

http://coit-grid01.uncc.edu/seeds/

The Seeds pattern programming framework is also described in Session 4 at a workshop:

 http://coitweb.uncc.edu/~abw/Infornor-Chile2010/GridWorkshop/index.html  

Please contact me if you are interested in pursuing work in this area.  Call in my office Tuesday/Thursday after 11 am.

Barry Wilkinson

Nov 28, 2011