- A
- address
- A value, possibly a character or group of characters that identifies a
register, a device, a particular part of storage, or some other data source or
destination.
- AIX
- Abbreviation for Advanced Interactive Executive, IBM's licensed
version of the UNIX operating system. AIX is particularly suited to
support technical computing applications, including high-function graphics and
floating-point computations.
- AIXwindows(R) Environment/6000
- A graphical user interface (GUI) for the IBM
pSeries and IBM
RS/6000 systems. It has the following components:
- A graphical user interface and toolkit based on OSF/Motif
- Enhanced X-Windows, an enhanced version of the MIT X Window System
- Graphics Library (GL), a graphical interface library for the application
programmer that is compatible with Silicon Graphics' GL interface.
- API
- See application programming interface.
- application
- The use to which a data processing system is put; for example,
topayroll application, an airline reservation application.
- application programming interface
- A set of programming functions and routines that provide access between
the Application layer of the OSI seven-layer model and applications that want
to use the network. It is a software interface.
- argument
- A parameter passed between a calling program and a called program or
subprogram.
- attribute
- A named property of an entity.
- B
- bandwidth
- The difference, expressed in hertz, between the highest and the lowest
frequencies of a range of frequencies. For example, analog transmission
by recognizable voice telephone requires a bandwidth of about 3000 hertz (3
kHz). The bandwidth of an optical link designates the
information-carrying capacity of the link and is related to the maximum bit
rate that a fiber link can support.
- blocking operation
- An operation that does not complete until the operation either succeeds or
fails. For example, a blocking receive will not return until a message
is received or until the channel is closed and no further messages can be
received.
- breakpoint
- A place in a program, specified by a command or a condition, where the
system halts execution and gives control to the workstation user or to a
specified program.
- broadcast operation
- A communication operation in which one processor sends (or broadcasts) a
message to all other processors.
- buffer
- A portion of storage used to hold input or output data temporarily.
- C
- C
- A general-purpose programming language. It was formalized by
Uniforum in 1983 and the ANSI standards committee for the C language in
1984.
- C++
- A general-purpose programming language that is based on the C
language. C++ includes extensions that support an object-oriented
programming paradigm. Extensions include:
- strong typing
- data abstraction and encapsulation
- polymorphism through function overloading and templates
- class inheritance.
- call arc
- The representation of a call between two functions within the Xprofiler
function call tree. It appears as a solid line between the two
functions. The arrowhead indicates the direction of the call; the
function it points to is the one that receives the call. The function
making the call is known as the caller, while the function
receiving the call is known as the callee.
- chaotic relaxation
- An iterative relaxation method which uses a combination of the
Gauss-Seidel and Jacobi-Seidel methods. The array of discrete values is
divided into sub-regions that can be operated on in parallel. The
sub-region boundaries are calculated using Jacobi-Seidel, whereas the
sub-region interiors are calculated using Gauss-Seidel. See also
Gauss-Seidel.
- client
- A function that requests services from a server and makes them available
to the user.
- cluster
- A group of processors interconnected through a high-speed network that can
be used for high-performance computing. A cluster typically provides
excellent price/performance.
- collective communication
- A communication operation that involves more than two processes or
tasks. Broadcasts, reductions, and the MPI_Allreduce
subroutine are all examples of collective communication operations. All
tasks in a communicator must participate.
- command alias
- When using the PE command line debugger pdbx, you can create
abbreviations for existing commands using the pdbx alias
command. These abbreviations are known as command
aliases.
- Communication Subsystem (CSS)
- A component of the IBM Parallel System Support Programs for AIX that
provides software support for the SP Switch. CSS provides two
protocols: Internet Protocol (IP) for LAN-based communication and user
space (US) as a message-passing interface that is optimized for performance
over the switch. See also Internet Protocol and user
space.
- communicator
- An MPI object that describes the communication context and an associated
group of processes.
- compile
- To translate a source program into an executable program.
- condition
- One of a set of specified values that a data item can assume.
- control workstation
- A workstation attached to the IBM RS/6000 SP that serves as a single point
of control allowing the administrator or operator to monitor and manage the
system using IBM Parallel System Support Programs for AIX.
- core dump
- A process by which the current state of a program is preserved in a
file. Core dumps are usually associated with programs that have
encountered an unexpected, system-detected fault, such as a Segmentation Fault
or a severe user error. The current program state is needed for the
programmer to diagnose and correct the problem.
- core file
- A file that preserves the state of a program, usually just before a
program is terminated for an unexpected error. See also core
dump.
- current context
- When using the pdbx debugger, control of the parallel program and
the display of its data can be limited to a subset of the tasks belonging to
that program. This subset of tasks is called the current
context. You can set the current context to be a single task,
multiple tasks, or all the tasks in the program.
- D
- data decomposition
- A method of breaking up (or decomposing) a program into smaller parts to
exploit parallelism. One divides the program by dividing the data
(usually arrays) into smaller parts and operating on each part
independently.
- data parallelism
- Refers to situations where parallel tasks perform the same computation on
different sets of data.
- dbx
- A symbolic command line debugger that is often provided with UNIX
systems. The PE command line debugger pdbx is based on the
dbx debugger.
- debugger
- A debugger provides an environment in which you can manually control the
execution of a program. It also provides the ability to display the
program' data and operation.
- distributed shell (dsh)
- A PSSP command that lets you issue commands to a group of hosts in
parallel. See IBM Parallel System Support Programs
for AIX: Command and Technical Reference for details.
- domain name
- The hierarchical identification of a host system (in a network),
consisting of human-readable labels, separated by decimals.
- E
- environment variable
- 1) A variable that describes the operating environment of the
process. Common environment variables describe the home directory,
command search path, and the current time zone. 2) A variable that is
included in the current software environment and is therefore available to any
called program that requests it.
- Ethernet
- A baseband local area network (LAN) that allows multiple stations to
access the transmission medium at will without prior coordination, avoids
contention by using carrier sense and deference, and resolves contention by
using collision detection and delayed retransmission. Ethernet uses
carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD).
- event
- An occurrence of significance to a task -- the completion of an
asynchronous operation such as an input/output operation, for example.
- executable
- A program that has been link-edited and therefore can be run in a
processor.
- execution
- To perform the actions specified by a program or a portion of a
program.
- expression
- In programming languages, a language construct for computing a value from
one or more operands.
- F
- fairness
- A policy in which tasks, threads, or processes must be allowed eventual
access to a resource for which they are competing. For example, if
multiple threads are simultaneously seeking a lock, no set of circumstances
can cause any thread to wait indefinitely for access to the lock.
- FDDI
- See Fiber Distributed Data Interface.
- Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
- An American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard for a local area
network (LAN) using optical fiber cables. An FDDI LAN can be up to 100
kilometers (62 miles) and can include up to 500 system units. There can
be up to 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) between system units and
concentrators.
- file system
- In the AIX operating system, the collection of files and file management
structures on a physical or logical mass storage device, such as a diskette or
minidisk.
- fileset
- 1) An individually-installable option or update. Options provide
specific functions. Updates correct an error in, or enhance, a
previously installed program. 2) One or more separately-installable,
logically-grouped units in an installation package. See also
licensed program and package.
- foreign host
- See remote host.
- FORTRAN
- One of the oldest of the modern programming languages, and the most
popular language for scientific and engineering computations. Its name
is a contraction of FORmula TRANslation. The two most common
FORTRAN versions are FORTRAN 77, originally standardized in 1978, and FORTRAN
90. FORTRAN 77 is a proper subset of FORTRAN 90.
- function call tree
- A graphical representation of all the functions and calls within an
application, which appears in the Xprofiler main window. The functions
are represented by green, solid-filled rectangles called function
boxes. The size and shape of each function box indicates its CPU
usage. Calls between functions are represented by blue arrows, called
call arcs, drawn between the function boxes. See also call
arcs.
- function cycle
- A chain of calls in which the first caller is also the last to be
called. A function that calls itself recursively is not considered a
function cycle.
- functional decomposition
- A method of dividing the work in a program to exploit parallelism.
One divides the program into independent pieces of functionality, which are
distributed to independent processors. This method is in contrast to
data decomposition, which distributes the same work over different data to
independent processors.
- functional parallelism
- Refers to situations where parallel tasks specialize in particular
work.
- G
- Gauss-Seidel
- An iterative relaxation method for solving Laplace's equation.
It calculates the general solution by finding particular solutions to a set of
discrete points distributed throughout the area in question. The values
of the individual points are obtained by averaging the values of nearby
points. Gauss-Seidel differs from Jacobi-Seidel in that, for the i+1st
iteration, Jacobi-Seidel uses only values calculated in the ith
iteration. Gauss-Seidel uses a mixture of values calculated in the ith
and i+1st iterations.
- global max
- The maximum value across all processors for a given variable. It is
global in the sense that it is global to the available processors.
- global variable
- A variable defined in one portion of a computer program and used in at
least one other portion of the computer program.
- gprof
- A UNIX command that produces an execution profile of C, COBOL, FORTRAN, or
Pascal programs. The execution profile is in a textual and tabular
format. It is useful for identifying which routines use the most CPU
time. See the man page on gprof.
- graphical user interface (GUI)
- A type of computer interface consisting of a visual metaphor of a
real-world scene, often of a desktop. Within that scene are icons,
which represent actual objects, that the user can access and manipulate with a
pointing device.
- GUI
- See Graphical user interface.
- H
- HIPPI
- High performance parallel interface.
- hook
- A pdbx command that lets you re-establish control over all tasks
in the current context that were previously unhooked with this command.
- home node
- The node from which an application developer compiles and runs his
program. The home node can be any workstation on the LAN.
- host
- A computer connected to a network that provides an access method to that
network. A host provides end-user services.
- host list file
- A file that contains a list of host names, and possibly other information,
that was defined by the application which reads it.
- host name
- The name used to uniquely identify any computer on a network.
- hot spot
- A memory location or synchronization resource for which multiple
processors compete excessively. This competition can cause a
disproportionately large performance degradation when one processor that seeks
the resource blocks, preventing many other processors from having it, thereby
forcing them to become idle.
- I
- IBM Parallel Environment for AIX (PE)
- A licensed program that provides an execution and development environment
for parallel C, C++, and FORTRAN programs. PE also includes tools for
debugging, profiling, and tuning parallel programs.
- installation image
- A file or collection of files that are required in order to install a
software product on an IBM
pSeries or IBM RS/6000 workstation,
or on SP system nodes. These files are in a form that allows them to be
installed or removed with the AIX installp command. See also
fileset, licensed program, and
package.
- IBM Parallel System Support Programs for AIX (PSSP)
- A comprehensive suite of applications that is used to manage an RS/6000 SP
system as a full-function parallel-processing system. PSSP provides a
single point of control for administrative tasks and helps increase
productivity by letting administrators view, monitor, and control how the
system operates.
- Internet
- The collection of worldwide networks and gateways that function as a
single, cooperative virtual network.
- Internet Protocol (IP)
- 1) The TCP/IP protocol that provides packet delivery between the hardware
and user processes. 2) The SP Switch library, provided with the IBM
Parallel System Support Programs for AIX, that follows the IP protocol of
TCP/IP.
- IP
- Internet Protocol.
- J
- Jacobi-Seidel
- See Gauss-Seidel.
- Jumpshot
- A public domain tool, developed at Argonne National Laboratory, for
visualizing program performance. Jumpshot reads files in a scalable log
file format, called SLOG. The PE Benchmarker toolset provides the
slogmerge utility to enable you to convert UTE files into the SLOG
format.
- K
- Kerberos
- A publicly available security and authentication product that works with
the IBM Parallel System Support Programs for AIX software to authenticate the
execution of remote commands.
- kernel
- The core portion of the UNIX operating system that controls the resources
of the CPU and allocates them to the users. The kernel is
memory-resident, is said to run in kernel mode (in other words, at
higher execution priority level than user mode), and is protected
from user tampering by the hardware.
- L
- LAPI
- See low-level communication API.
- Laplace's equation
- A homogeneous partial differential equation used to describe heat
transfer, electric fields, and many other applications.
The dimension-free version of Laplace's equation is:
- latency
- The time interval between the instant at which an instruction control unit
initiates a call for data transmission, and the instant at which the actual
transfer of data (or receipt of data at the remote end) begins. Latency
is related to the hardware characteristics of the system and to the different
layers of software that are involved in initiating the task of packing and
transmitting the data.
- licensed program
- A collection of software packages sold as a product that customers pay for
to license. A licensed program can consist of packages and filesets a
customer would install. These packages and filesets bear a copyright
and are offered under the terms and conditions of a licensing
agreement. See also fileset and package.
- lightweight corefiles
- An alternative to standard AIX corefiles. Corefiles produced in the
Standardized Lightweight Corefile Format provide simple process
stack traces (listings of function calls that led to the error) and consume
fewer system resources than traditional corefiles.
- LoadLeveler
- A job management system that works with POE to let users run jobs and
match processing needs with system resources, in order to make better use of
the system.
- local variable
- A variable that is defined and used only in one specified portion of a
computer program.
- loop unrolling
- A program transformation that makes multiple copies of the body of a loop,
also placing the copies within the body of the loop. The loop trip
count and index are adjusted appropriately so the new loop computes the same
values as the original. This transformation makes it possible for a
compiler to take additional advantage of instruction pipelining, data cache
effects, and software pipelining.
See also optimization.
- low-level communication API (LAPI)
- A low-level (low overhead) message-passing protocol that uses a one-sided,
active-message-style interface to transfer messages between processes.
LAPI is an IBM proprietary interface that exploits the SP Switch
adapters.
- M
- menu
- A list of options displayed to the user by a data processing system, from
which the user can select an action to be initiated.
- message catalog
- A file created using the AIX Message Facility from a message source file
that contains application error and other messages, which can later be
translated into other languages without having to recompile the application
source code.
- message passing
- Refers to the process by which parallel tasks explicitly exchange program
data.
- message passing client interface (MPCI)
- The primary interface to the pointtopoint message-passing protocols that
support the SP Switch and the SP Switch2.
- message passing interface (MPI)
- An industry-standard message-passing protocol that typically uses a
two-sided send-receive model to transfer messages between
processes.
- MIMD
- See multiple instruction stream, multiple data
stream.
- MPCI
- See message passing client interface.
- MPMD
- See Multiple program, multiple data.
- multiple program, multiple data (MPMD)
- A parallel programming model in which different, but related, programs are
run on different sets of data.
- MPI
- See message passing interface.
- multiple instruction stream, multiple data stream (MIMD)
- A parallel programming model in which different processors perform
different instructions on different sets of data.
- N
- netCDF file
- See network Common Data Form (netCDF) file.
- network
- An interconnected group of nodes, lines, and terminals. A network
provides the ability to transmit data to and receive data from other systems
and users.
- network Common Data Form (netCDF) file
- A file using the netCDF format developed at the Unidata Program Center
-- a program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In
the PE Benchmarker toolset, the PVT reads netCDF files containing hardware and
operating system profiles output by the PCT.
- Network Information Services (NIS)
- A set of UNIX network services (for example, a distributed service for
retrieving information about the users, groups, network addresses, and
gateways in a network) that resolve naming and addressing differences among
computers in a network.
- NIS
- See Network Information Services.
- node
- (1) In a network, the point where one or more functional units
interconnect transmission lines. A computer location defined in a
network. (2) In terms of the IBM RS/6000 SP, a single location or
workstation in a network. An SP node is a physical entity (a
processor).
- node ID
- A string of unique characters that identifies the node on a
network.
- nonblocking operation
- An operation, such as sending or receiving a message, that returns
immediately whether or not the operation was completed. For example, a
nonblocking receive will not wait until a message is sent, but a blocking
receive will wait. A nonblocking receive will return a status value
that indicates whether or not a message was received.
- O
- object code
- The result of translating a computer program to a relocatable, low-level
form. Object code contains machine instructions, but symbol names (such
as array, scalar, and procedure names), are not yet given a location in
memory. Contrast with source code.
- optimization
- A widely-used (though not strictly accurate) term for program performance
improvement, especially for performance improvement done by a compiler or
other program translation software. An optimizing compiler is one that
performs extensive code transformations in order to obtain an executable that
runs faster but gives the same answer as the original. Such code
transformations, however, can make code debugging and performance analysis
very difficult because complex code transformations obscure the correspondence
between compiled and original source code.
- option flag
- Arguments or any other additional information that a user specifies with a
program name. Also referred to as parameters or command
line options.
- P
- package
- A number of filesets that have been collected into a single installable
image of licensed programs. Multiple filesets can be bundled together
for installing groups of software together. See also fileset
and licensed program.
- Parallel Environment
- See IBM Parallel Environment for AIX.
- parallelism
- The degree to which parts of a program may be concurrently
executed.
- parallelize
- To convert a serial program for parallel execution.
- Parallel System Support Programs
- See IBM Parallel System Support Programs for AIX.
- parallel operating environment (POE)
- An execution environment that smooths the differences between serial and
parallel execution. POE lets you submit and manage parallel
jobs.
- parameter
- (1) In FORTRAN, a symbol that is given a constant value for a specified
application. (2) An item in a menu for which the operator specifies a
value or for which the system provides a value when the menu is
interpreted. (3) A name in a procedure that is used to refer to an
argument that is passed to the procedure. (4) A particular piece of
information that a system or application program needs to process a
request.
- partition
- (1) A fixed-size division of storage. (2) In terms of the IBM
RS/6000 SP, a logical definition of nodes to be viewed as one system or
domain. System partitioning is a method of organizing the SP into
groups of nodes for testing or running different levels of software of product
environments.
- Partition Manager
- The component of the parallel operating environment (POE) that allocates
nodes, sets up the execution environment for remote tasks, and manages
distribution or collection of standard input (STDIN), standard output
(STDOUT), and standard error (STDERR).
- PCT
- See Performance Collection Tool.
- pdbx
- PE's parallel, symbolic command-line debugging facility.
pdbx is based on the dbx debugger and has a similar
interface.
- PE
- See IBM Parallel Environment for AIX.
- PE Benchmarker
- A suite of applications and utilities that you can use to analyze the
performance of programs run within IBM Parallel Environment for AIX.
The PE Benchmarker toolset consists of the Performance Collection Tool (PCT),
the Profile Visualization Tool (PVT), and a set of Unified Trace Environment
(UTE) utilities.
- Performance Collection Tool (PCT)
- Part of the PE Benchmarker toolset, this tool enables you to collect
either MPI and user event data or hardware and operating system profiles for
one or more application processes. Because it is built on dynamic
instrumentation technology, the PCT enables you to insert instrumentation
probes into a target application while the target application is
running.
- performance monitor
- A utility that displays how effectively a system is being used by
programs.
- PID
- See process identifier.
- point-to-point communication
- A communication operation which involves exactly two processes or
tasks. One process initiates the communication through a
send operation. The partner process issues a
receive operation to accept the data being sent.
- POE
- See parallel operating environment.
- pool
- Groups of nodes on an SP that are known to LoadLeveler, and are identified
by a pool name or number.
- procedure
- (1) In a programming language, a block, with or without formal parameters,
whose execution is invoked by means of a procedure call. (2) A set of
related control statements that cause one or more programs to be
performed.
- process
- A program or command that is actually running the computer. It
consists of a loaded version of the executable file, its data, its stack, and
its kernel data structures that represent the process's state within a
multitasking environment. The executable file contains the machine
instructions (and any calls to shared objects) that will be executed by the
hardware. A process can contain multiple threads of execution.
The process is created via a fork() system call and ends using an
exit() system call. Between fork and exit,
the process is known to the system by a unique process identifier
(PID).
Each process has its own virtual memory space and cannot access another
process's memory directly. Communication methods across processes
include pipes, sockets, shared memory, and message passing.
- process identifier (PID)
- An integer used by the Unix kernel to uniquely identify a process.
PIDs are returned by the fork system call and can be passed to
wait() or kill() to perform actions on the given
process.
- prof
- A utility that produces an execution profile of an application or
program. prof is useful for identifying which routines use the
most CPU time.
- Profile Visualization Tool (PVT)
- Part of the PE Benchmarker toolset, this tool reads the hardware or
operating system profiles output by the PCT in netCDF format. The PVT
enables you to summarize the collected information in reports.
- profiling
- The act of determining how much CPU time is used by each function or
subroutine in a program. The histogram or table produced is called the
execution profile.
- Program Marker Array
- An X-Windows run time monitor tool provided with parallel operating
environment, used to provide immediate visual feedback on a program's
execution.
- PSSP
- See IBM Parallel System Support Programs for AIX.
- pthread
- A thread that conforms to the POSIX Threads Programming Model.
- PVT
- See Profile Visualization Tool.
- R
- reduced instruction set computer (RISC)
- A computer that uses a small, simplified set of frequently-used
instructions for rapid execution.
- reduction operation
- An operation, usually mathematical, that reduces a collection of data by
one or more dimensions. For example, the arithmetic SUM operation is a
reduction operation which reduces an array to a scalar value. Other
reduction operations include MAXVAL and MINVAL.
- remote host
- Any host on a network except the one at which a particular operator is
working.
- remote shell (rsh)
- A command supplied with both AIX and the IBM Parallel System Support
Programs for AIX that lets you issue commands on a remote host.
- Report
- In Xprofiler, a tabular listing of performance data that is derived from
the gmon.out files of an application. Xprofiler
generates five types of reports. Each type of report presents different
statistical information for an application.
- RISC
- See reduced instruction set computer.
- RS/6000 SP
- A scalable parallel system arranged in various physical configurations
that provides a high-powered computing environment.
- S
- segmentation fault
- A system-detected error, usually caused by referencing an non-valid memory
address.
- server
- A functional unit that provides shared services to workstations over a
network -- a file server, a print server, or a mail server, for
example.
- shell script
- A sequence of commands that are to be executed by a shell interpreter such
as the Bourne shell (sh), the C shell (csh), or the Korn
shell (ksh). Script commands are stored in a file in the same
form as if they were typed at a terminal.
- signal handling
- A type of communication that is used by message passing libraries.
Signal handling involves using AIX signals as an asynchronous way to move data
in and out of message buffers.
- single program, multiple data (SPMD)
- A parallel programming model in which different processors execute the
same program on different sets of data.
- SLOG file
- A file using the scalable log file format. The Jumpshot tool from
Argonne National Laboratory reads files of this format. The
slogmerge utility of the PE Benchmarker toolset converts UTE files
into the SLOG file format.
- source code
- The input to a compiler or assembler, written in a source language.
Contrast with object code.
- source line
- A line of source code.
- SP
- See RS/6000 SP.
- SPMD
- See single program, multiple data.
- SP Switch
- The high-performance message-passing network of the IBM RS/6000 SP system
that connects all processor nodes.
- standard error (STDERR)
- (1) An output file intended to be used for error messages for C
programs. (2) In many workstation-based operating systems, the output
stream to which error messages or diagnostic messages are sent.
- standard input (STDIN)
- In the AIX operating system, the primary source of data entered into a
command. Standard input comes from the keyboard unless redirection or
piping is used, in which case standard input can be from a file or the output
from another command.
- standard output (STDOUT)
- In the AIX operating system, the primary destination of data produced by a
command. Standard output goes to the display unless redirection or
piping is used, in which case standard output can go to a file or to another
command.
- STDERR
- See standard error.
- STDIN
- See standard input.
- STDOUT
- See standard output.
- stencil
- A pattern of memory references used for averaging. A 4-point
stencil in two dimensions for a given array cell, x(i,j), uses the four
adjacent cells, x(i-1,j), x(i+1,j), x(i,j-1), and x(i,j+1).
- subroutine
- (1) A sequence of instructions whose execution is invoked by a
call. (2) A sequenced set of instructions or statements that may be
used in one or more computer programs and at one or more points in a computer
program. (3) A group of instructions that can be part of another
routine or can be called by another program or routine.
- synchronization
- The action of forcing certain points in the execution sequences of two or
more asynchronous procedures to coincide in time.
- system administrator
- (1) The person at a computer installation who designs, controls, and
manages the use of the computer system. (2) The person who is
responsible for setting up, modifying, and maintaining the Parallel
Environment.
- System Data Repository
- A component of the IBM Parallel System Support Programs for AIX software
that provides configuration management for the SP system. It manages
the storage and retrieval of system data across the control workstation, file
servers, and nodes.
- T
- target application
- See DPCL target application.
- task
- A unit of computation analogous to an AIX process.
- thread
- A single, separately dispatchable, unit of execution. There may be
one or more threads in a process, and each thread is executed by the operating
system concurrently.
- tracing
- In PE, the collection of information about the execution of the
program. This information is accumulated into a trace file that can
later be examined.
- tracepoint
- Tracepoints are places in the program that, when reached during execution,
cause the debugger to print information about the state of the program.
- trace record
- In PE, a collection of information about a specific event that occurred
during the execution of your program. For example, a trace record is
created for each send and receive operation that occurs in your program (this
is optional and may not be appropriate). These records are then
accumulated into a trace file that can later be examined.
- U
- Unified Trace Environment (UTE)
- An environment that is used to generate, analyze, and visualize trace
events for applications running on IBM RS/6000 SP systems.
- unrolling loops
- See loop unrolling.
- US
- See user space.
- user
- (1) A person who requires the services of a computing system. (2)
Any person or any thing that may issue or receive commands and message to or
from the information processing system.
- user space (US)
- A version of the message passing library that is optimized for direct
access to the SP Switch, that maximizes the performance capabilities of the SP
hardware.
- UTE
- See Unified Trace Environment.
- UTE interval files
- A Unified Trace Environment file that is distinct from an AIX trace file
by the inclusion of interval information. While an AIX trace file has a
time stamp indicating the point in time when an event occurred, UTE interval
files also determine how long an event lasts before encountering the next
event. Because they include this duration information, UTE interval
files are easier to visualize than traditional AIX event trace
files.
- utility program
- A computer program in general support of computer processes; for
example, a diagnostic program, a trace program, a sort program.
- utility routine
- A routine in general support of the processes of a computer; for
example, an input routine.
- V
- variable
- (1) In programming languages, a named object that may take different
values, one at a time. The values of a variable are usually restricted
to one data type. (2) A quantity that can assume any of a given set of
values. (3) A name used to represent a data item whose value can be
changed while the program is running. (4) A name used to represent data
whose value can be changed, while the program is running, by referring to the
name of the variable.
- view
- (1) To display and look at data on screen.
(2) A special display of data, created as needed. A view temporarily
ties two or more files together so that the combined files can be displayed,
printed, or queried. The user specifies the fields to be
included. The original files are not permanently linked or
altered; however, if the system allows editing, the data in the original
files will be changed.
- X
- X Window System
- The UNIX industry's graphics windowing standard that provides
simultaneous views of several executing programs or processes on high
resolution graphics displays.
- Xprofiler
- An AIX tool that is used to analyze the performance of both serial and
parallel applications, via a graphical user interface. Xprofiler
provides quick access to the profiled data, so that the functions that are the
most CPU-intensive can be easily identified.