A Model-Based Framework for the Integration of Parallel Tools

A large number of tools are already available to aid in the development of parallel scientific applications, yet many developers are unaware they exist, do not have access to them, or find them too difficult to use. And, unlike the wider software development community where the use of integrated development environments is best practice, parallel software development languishes with the lowest common denominator of command-line tools and Emacs style editors. By harnessing the power and flexibility of the phenomenally successful Eclipse framework, we have developed a platform for the integration of parallel tools that aims to provide a robust, portable, and scalable parallel development environment for the development of high performance scientific computing applications. The Eclipse Parallel Tools Platform utilizes a model-view-controller design and a generic API architecture to support a wide range of parallel computing environments. The platform has been designed so that it is easily extensible, and will support the integration of existing and new parallel tools. In this paper we describe the architecture of the platform, provide details of an example implementation for a particular parallel runtime system, and show how other parallel tools can be integrated with the Eclipse Parallel Tools Platform