Postgraduate Course: Design and Analysis of Parallel Algorithms (INFR11179)
Course Outline
School | School of Informatics |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
Summary | This module introduces theoretical design principles and analysis techniques that enable the creation and evaluation of efficient, scalable and portable algorithms for parallel computers. Concrete examples will span a range of application areas and architectural models seeking wherever possible to exploit commonality through appropriate abstraction. |
Course description |
Syllabus:
Introduction: Conceptual frameworks for parallelism, message passing, shared address space, PRAM. Cost models for parallel algorithms. Cost efficiency and scalability. Inter-model emulation. Simple examples.
Problem solving strategies: Embarrassing parallelism, divide & conquer, pipelining, step-by-step parallelisation. Amdahl's Law. Gustafson's law.
Useful primitives: Collective communications, reduction, prefix.
Algorithms in selected problem areas, for example: Sorting (bitonic mergesort, hyperquicksort). Matrix oriented algorithms (multiplication, solving linear systems). Graph algorithms (spanning trees, single source & all-to-all shortest paths).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites | None |
High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 80 |
Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
76 )
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Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
100 %,
Coursework
0 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% Written Examination |
Feedback |
Formative feedback: Two sets of pencil-and-paper problems submitted during the semester with feedback returned within three weeks and feedback on exam papers.
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Exam Information |
Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Design and Analysis of Parallel Algorithms | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Define the structure of, and cost models associated with, the PRAM, mesh and hypercube models of parallel computation.
- Define the metrics of cost, speed-up and efficiency and use these as conceptual tools with which to analyse and discriminate between alternative candidate parallel algorithms for given problems; demonstrate, by the use of appropriately chosen examples, the importance of scalability in parallel algorithm design.
- Explain and, with appropriate use of diagrams, sketch the structure and operation of well known parallel algorithms in a range of application areas, including sorting, matrix and graph based problems.
- Apply a range of parallel algorithm design techniques (including divide-and-conquer and pipelining) to previously unseen problems, in order to create new parallel algorithms, which they will be able to describe using an informal mix of pseudo-code, textual explanation and diagrams.
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Reading List
The recommended textbook for the course is A. Grama, A. Gupta, G. Karypis & V. Kumar 'Introduction to Parallel Computing', (2nd Ed), 2003. |
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Solution Exploration, Evaluation and Prioritisation.
Critical thinking
Communication of complex ideas in accessible language
Working in an interdisciplinary field
Programming and Scripting
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Additional Class Delivery Information |
2 lectures per week |
Keywords | Algorithms,DAPA,Parallel,EPCC,HPC,High Performance Computing,Parallelism,Parallel Computing |
Contacts
Course organiser | Dr Daniel Holmes
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Ben Morse
Tel: (0131 6)51 3398
Email: |
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