The Design of a Tool for Parallel Program Performance Analysis and Tuning
Anna Hondroudakis, Rob Procter · Birkhäuser Basel eBooks · 1994
The implementation of efficient parallel programs can be very difficult, and numerous computer-based tools have been developed to help with the task of performance analysis and tuning. We describe the initial steps in the design of such a tool. Our aim is to show how its design has evolved out of an explicit attempt to understand the human factors issues in parallel program implementation. By adopting this approach, we seek to look beyond the current fashion for graphical user interfaces and data visualization techniques. Our emphasis is on gaining a better understanding of the problems inherent in program analysis and tuning and using this as a foundation for developing more usable tools.