The Architecture of Scientific Software

by Ifip Tc2; Wg2.5 Working Conference on the; Tang, Ping Tak Peter

• ISBN13: 9780792373391
• ISBN10: 0792373391
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-04-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

Scientific applications involve very large computations that strain the resources of whatever computers are available. Such computations implement sophisticated mathematics, require deep scientific knowledge, depend on subtle interplay of different approximations, and may be subject to instabilities and sensitivity to external input. Software able to succeed in this domain invariably embeds significant domain knowledge that should be tapped for future use. Unfortunately, most existing scientific software is designed in an ad hoc way, resulting in monolithic codes understood by only a few developers. Software architecture refers to the way software is structured to promote objectives such as reusability, maintainability, extensibility, and feasibility of independent implementation. Such issues have become increasingly important in the scientific domain, as software gets larger and more complex, constructed by teams of people, and evolved over decades. In the context of scientific computation, the challenge facing mathematical software practitioners is to design, develop, and supply computational components which deliver these objectives when embedded in end-user application codes. The Architecture of Scientific Software addresses emerging methodologies and tools for the rational design of scientific software, including component integration frameworks, network-based computing, formal methods of abstraction, application programmer interface design, and the role of object-oriented languages. This book comprises the proceedings of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Conference on the Architecture of Scientific Software, which was held in Ottawa, Canada, in October 2000. It will prove invaluable reading for developers of scientific software, as well as for researchers in computational sciences and engineering.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Contributing Authors	xv
Part I Large-Scale Systems Integration
Network-Based Scientific Computing	3	(26)
Elias N. Houstis
Ann Christine Catlin
Ganesh Balakrishnan
Nitesh Dhanjani
GaHyun Park
John R. Rice
Spyros Lalis
Manolis Stamatogiannakis
Catherine Houstis
Future Generations of Problem-Solving Environments	29	(10)
Jose C. Cunha
Developing an Architecture to Support the Implementation and Development of Scientific Computing Applications	39	(18)
Dorian C. Arnold
Jack J. Dongarra
PETSc and Overture: Lessons Learned Developing an Interface between Components	57	(12)
Kristopher R. Buschelman
William D. Gropp
Lois C. McInnes
Barry F. Smith
Component Technology for High-Performance Scientific Simulation Software	69	(18)
Tom Epperly
Scott Kohn
Gary Kumfert
A New Approach to Software Integration Frameworks for Multi-physics Simulation Codes	87	(18)
Eric de Sturler
Jay Hoefinger
Laxmikant Kale
Milind Bhandarkar
Code Coupling using Parallel CORBA Objects	105	(14)
Christophe Rene
Thierry Priol
Guillaume Alleon
A Collaborative Code Development Environment for Computational Electro-magnetics	119	(26)
Matthew Shields
Omer F. Rana
David. W. Walker
David Golby
Part II The Architecture of Components
On the Role of Mathematical Abstractions for Scientific Computing	145	(14)
Krister Ahlander
Magne Haveraaen
Hans Z. Munthe-Kaas
Object-oriented Modeling of Parallel PDE Solvers	159	(16)
Michael Thune
Krister Ahlander
Malin Ljungberg
Markus Norden
Kurt Otto
Jarmo Rantakokko
Broadway: A Software Architecture for Scientific Computing	175	(18)
Samuel Z. Guyer
Calvin Lin
Formal Methods for High-Performance Linear Algebra Libraries	193	(18)
John A. Gunnels
Robert A. van de Geijn
New Generalized Matrix Data Structures Lead to a Variety of High-Performance Algorithms	211	(24)
Fred G. Gustavson
A Comprehensive DFT API for Scientific Computing	235	(22)
Ping Tak Peter Tang
Using A Fortran Interface to POSIX Threads	257	(16)
Richard J. Hanson
Clay P. Breshears
Henry A. Gabb
Data Management Systems for Scientific Applications	273	(12)
Reagan W. Moore
Software Components for Application Development	285	(16)
Arnaud Desitter
Antoine Le Hyaric
Geoff Morgan
Gareth Shaw
Anne Trefethen
Hierarchichal Representation and Computation of Approximate Solutions in Scientific Simulations	301	(16)
Wayne H. Enright
Software Architecture for the Investigation of Controllable Models with Complex Data Sets	317	(16)
Dmitry Belyshev
Vladimir Gurman
A Mixed-Language Programming Methodology for High Performance Java Computing	333	(18)
Vladimir S. Getov
Part III Conference Information
The Architecture of Scientific Software: the Conference	351	(6)
Index	357