Towards Usable and Lean Parallel Linear Algebra Libraries

In this paper, we introduce a new parallel library effort, as part of the PLAPACK project, that attempts to address discrepencies between the needs of applications and parallel libraries. A number of contributions are made, including a new approach to matrix distribution, new insights into layering parallel linear algebra libraries, and the application of "object based" programming techniques which have recently become popular for (parallel) scientific libraries. We present an overview of a prototype library, the SL Library, which incorporates these ideas. Preliminary performance data shows this more application-centric approach to libraries does not necessarily adversely impact performance, compared to more traditional approaches. This project is sponsored in part by the Office of Naval Research under Contract N00014-95-1-0401, the NASA High Performance Computing and Communications Program's Earth and Space Sciences Project under NRA Grant NAG5-2497, the PRISM project...