Learning Objectives

2.1. Learning Objectives#

This chapter enables students to progressively develop their understanding and skills in OpenMP programming. By the end of this chapter, students will be able to:

Remember & Understand

  • Describe the structure and principles of MIMD architecture and its relevance to shared-memory parallel computing.

  • Explain the execution model of OpenMP, including the role of threads, teams, and synchronization points.

Apply

  • Implement parallel regions in OpenMP using the parallel and teams directives to create SPMD-style programs.

  • Use barrier, ordered, and other synchronization constructs to coordinate thread execution safely and correctly.

  • Apply OpenMP task constructs to express asynchronous and irregular parallelism in C/C++ programs.

  • Distribute workloads explicitly across threads using OpenMP directives like single, sections, for, and distribute.

Analyze

  • Differentiate between the use cases and performance implications of parallel, teams, and task constructs.

  • Analyze synchronization needs in a parallel program and determine appropriate mechanisms to avoid race conditions.

  • Inspect the impact of various work-sharing strategies on performance and load balance.

Evaluate

  • Evaluate the scalability and correctness of OpenMP programs under different architectural assumptions (e.g., multicore vs. multi-CPU).

  • Critique the suitability of selected OpenMP directives for specific parallel patterns or problem domains.

Create

  • Design parallel solutions for real-world problems by combining OpenMP directives effectively and modularly.

  • Develop optimized OpenMP programs that demonstrate good parallel design, proper synchronization, and balanced workload distribution.