A generalized approach for transferring data-types with arbitrary communication libraries
Martial Michel, Judith Ellen Devaney · 2002
We present a generalized algorithm for implementing a communications library for dynamic data structures created with heterogeneous composed data types such as multiple C structs, and where the data-types may be nested and may contain pointers. This algorithm is divided into an absolute part that is the same for all instantiations, and a relative part that is specific to the communications mechanism used, such as PVM or MPI. We describe the algorithm in terms of our AutoMap/AutoLink implementation in C/MPI. First, we talk of the MPI case and of the AutoMap and AutoLink solutions (with ideas from version 3.0). Then we discuss what is to be followed in order to generalize the data-type transfer concepts presented. With this addition to AutoMap/AutoLink we can extend the functions provided from the current send and receive functions (blocking and non blocking) available for any data-types, to any kind of transfer function; from broadcast to reduce (as long as the reduce called process is message aware). This will also simplify the extension of this work to data-types load balancing.