[cctbxbb] Should we enable boost threads in bootstrap?

[Dr. Robert Oeffner]

If efficient threading is desired I would have thought that these days GPUs 
are all the rage and that it would be worth looking into openCL and CUDA 
implementations for doing this.

On an unrelated note are there any thoughts on moving CCTBX to Python3? One 
issue, which may not be insurmountable is that SCons does not yet support 
Python3.

Rob



-----Original Message----- 
From: Graeme.Winter at diamond.ac.uk
Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2017 10:16 PM
To: cctbxbb at phenix-online.org
Subject: Re: [cctbxbb] Should we enable boost threads in bootstrap?

Lee,

End game for us is moving to “proper” threading i.e. lots of threads / cores 
working on one problem in one address space - be it regular 20 core xeon or 
64 core KNL

Boost threads came up in conversation today as a C++11 like threading model, 
so I wondered if it would be a stepping stone...

Don’t have this book, maybe should get it….

Cheers Graeme



On 1 Aug 2017, at 18:14, Lee O'Riordan 
<loriordan at lbl.gov<mailto:loriordan at lbl.gov>> wrote:

Graeme, Nigel,

I would be a little bit worried about Boost threads when it comes to our KNL 
port of cctbx. In this instance the use of OpenMP or Intel TBB (at least 
accordingly to Intel docs) would be optimal over boost threads (or pthreads, 
etc.)[see Intel Xeon Phi High Performance Programming, KNL edition P155 ---  
no ebook, sorry]. That being said, there is no way to know unless we try it 
out first, but it isn't something we can test right now.

As for Threads vs MP, this again falls into our KNL port, where threads 
would be better suited (and become a necessity for optimal performance) when 
running on high-core count devices. If the OpenMP functionality exists, then 
maybe this would be a more portable way of taking advantage of all 
cores/hyperthreads.

In this instance I think turning boost threads on for a build-by-build basis 
would be better, rather than as a default? Though if I am wrong, feel free 
to correct me.

Best,
Lee.

On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 9:36 AM, Nigel Moriarty 
<nwmoriarty at lbl.gov<mailto:nwmoriarty at lbl.gov>> wrote:
Graeme

The short answer is "Why?" but that may start a very long discussion. There 
are a number of multiprocessing modules in easy_mp that seem to cover all 
the bases. Are there situations where threading is "better" to 
multiprocessing?

Articles on multiprocessing in cctbx.

https://www.phenix-online.org/newsletter/CCN_2017_01.pdf#page=6

https://www.phenix-online.org/newsletter/CCN_2013_07.pdf

https://www.phenix-online.org/newsletter/CCN_2013_01.pdf


Cheers

Nigel

---
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Building 33R0349, Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley, CA 94720-8235
Phone : 510-486-5709<tel:(510)%20486-5709>     Email : 
NWMoriarty at LBL.gov<mailto:NWMoriarty at LBL.gov>
Fax   : 510-486-5909<tel:(510)%20486-5909>       Web  : 
CCI.LBL.gov<http://cci.lbl.gov/>

On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 7:54 AM, 
<Graeme.Winter at diamond.ac.uk<mailto:Graeme.Winter at diamond.ac.uk>> wrote:
Afternoon all,

Should we do this? Any opinions? Could be useful for threads in a 
semi-portable way...

Thanks & cheerio Graeme

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