Parallel Programming with C# and .NET Framework 4.0 - Shared-Memory Multicore

Everyday processor manufactures introduces highly advanced processors with multicores. Since multicores offers the advantage of carring out many programs simultaneously, Parallel Programming is becoming a major topic in the Software Industry. Since I am new to Parallel Programming and I have already started learning Parallel Programming, I thought to write some posts about Parallel Programming as I go forward with learning. So someone who is passionate about learning this interesting topic might get these posts helpful. I should mention that I am referring the book "Professional Parallel Programming with C# - Master Parallel Extensions with .NET 4 - 2010" by "Gaston C. Hillar" which is a Wrox Publication.

What is Parallel Programming?

Parallel programming is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously and by doing so large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then can be solved in parallel ("concurrently").

Post 01. Shared-Memory Multicore

Now to speed up the processing power, Microprocessor manufacturers are adding processing cores instead of increasing their clock frequency. Most machines today have at least a dual-core microprocessor. However, quad-core and octal core microprocessors, with four and eight cores, respectively, are quite popular on servers, advanced workstations, and even on high-end mobile computers.

You can think of a multicore microprocessor as many interconnected microprocessors in a single package. All the cores have access to the main memory. Thus, this architecture is known as shared-memory multicore. Sharing memory in this way can easily lead to a performance bottleneck.

shared-memory multicore architecture

Multicore microprocessors has nicely designed architecture that offers more parallel execution, more overall throughput and most importantly it reduces the potential of having bottlenecks. Not only that multicore microprocessors uses less power and there by generates less heat. If you haven’t heard about this already Microsoft has offered a new feature called Core Parking in their latest Operating Systems which are Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. What Core Parking does is when many cores aren’t in use, operating system put the remaining cores to sleep. When these cores are necessary, the operating system wake the sleeping cores and allocate them to the additional work.

Modern microprocessors work with dynamic frequencies for each of their cores. Because the cores don’t work with a fixed frequency, it is difficult to predict the performance for a program. When the workload is becoming large, operating system changes the frequencies of its microprocessor's cores. The process of increasing the frequency for a core is known as overclocking.

But one main point is, the microprocessor cannot keep all the cores overclocked a lot of time, because it consumes more power and because of that its temperature increases faster. Then there have to be a proper cooling system to reduce the heat.

So that's the end of my first post in Parallel programming. Hoping to write another post with the next topic in Parallel programming.

Appreciate your feedback.

Happy Coding.

Regards,

Jaliya