Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!hubcap!doc From: doc@dgp.toronto.edu (Blaine Price) Newsgroups: comp.parallel Subject: What's "hard" about parallel programming? Keywords: visualization, animation, concurrency Message-ID: <7201@hubcap.clemson.edu> Date: 27 Nov 89 13:36:53 GMT Sender: fpst@hubcap.clemson.edu Lines: 17 Approved: parallel@hubcap.clemson.edu I'm starting to build a system for visualizing and animating concurrent programs and I would like to know what people think are the "hard" problems in understanding parallelism. What problems occur in designing, understanding, debugging, and maintaining parallel programs that are not as troublesome in sequential programming? Could a real-time animation of a running concurrent program aid in its understanding or guide optimization? If you were working on a large program and you could automatically have someone generate some kind of visual representation of it, what would it look like? I have some ideas but I don't think that I have an "intuitive handle" on how visualization can help. Please reply by posting or e-mail, whichever you prefer. -- Blaine Price (416) 978-6619, fax: 4765 doc@dgp.utoronto.{ca,bitnet} Dynamic Graphics Project, Dept. of Computer Sci. doc@dgp.toronto.edu Univ. of Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4 ...!uunet!dgp.toronto.edu!doc "Who do I work FOR? I don't work FOR anyone! I'm just having fun."-The Doctor Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com