Testing shared-memory parallel programs

The problem of testing shared-memory, synchronous parallel programs is addressed. A simple, Pascal-based general-purpose parallel language for single-instruction multiple-data (SIMD) machine programming is used, and the testing problem is investigated in this context. A scheme for classifying parallel random access machine (PRAM) programming errors is proposed. Several approaches to designing testing coverage criteria for PRAM programs are presented. Various testing coverage metrics are defined, and their properties are discussed. Also presented is a complete parallel program testing methodology which incorporates test generation tools for serial programs. This methodology allows easy implementation of testing procedures for parallel programs