Challenges of Heterogeneity

Overview

Questions

• What new challenges are posed heterogeneous computers

Objectives

• To understand the challenges to design posed by heterogeneity in computers

New Paradigm Because of Platform Heterogeneity

Addition of hardware accelerators has added another dimension to design considerations. Now the positive feedback loop cycle described before also includes growing complexity due to different type of devices in play. The figure below shows the axes of growing complexity for software design.

Question - do the design principles change?

The answer is – not really

The details get more involved

Go Back to the Design Model for Separation of Concerns

Places where more thought has to be given is in the hierarchy of decomposition and the interplay between finer-grain components. The figure belows shows aspects of hardware and their impact on design choices.

Platform Heterogeneity

And memory access models: unified memory / gpu-direct / explicit transfer

Key Points

• More computations rely on accelerators, software design should be cognizant of added constraints