Parallel object oriented implementation of a 2D bounded electrostatic plasma PIC simulation
Charles D. Norton, Boleslaw Karol Szymanski, Viktor K. Decyk · 1995
We discuss the software development issues involved in designing parallel programs using object oriented techniques. Simulations involving 1D and 2D Particle In Cell plasma codes illustrate how C++ programs can effectively describe complex simulations while performing with reasonable efficiency when compared to the equivalent Fortran programs. The scalable object oriented modeling techniques closely match the physical view of the problem, thus supporting modifiability and portability of the code. Selection of a parallel programming paradigm must consider the important factors of efficiency of the computation and the programming implementation effort. C++ and Fortran implementation paradigms are compared and discussed from this point of view. 1 Introduction Development of scientific applications for high performance distributed memory computer architectures is challenging. This challenge is particularly apparent during the programming process, when the developer often writes the applic...