Introduction to MPI
Christopher Cameron, Peter Vaillancourt, CAC Staff (original)
Cornell Center for Advanced Computing
Revisions: 5/2022, 3/2019, 6/2017, 2/2001 (original)
This topic provides an overview of the features of the Message Passing Interface (MPI), a specification that is the de facto standard for distributed memory computing. It describes the differences among various MPI versions and implementations and presents a brief sketch of how to incorporate MPI into your development.
Objectives
After you complete this topic, you should be able to:
- Describe why people use MPI and identify appropriate use cases.
- Name four characteristics of high-quality MPI implementations
- Choose among available MPI implementations
- Plan how to incorporate MPI into your workflow
Prerequisites
- A working knowledge of general programming concepts
- Ability to program in a high-level language such as Fortran, C, or C++
- A basic familiarity with parallel programming concepts