starpu-max/doc/chapters/basic-examples.texi

@c -*-texinfo-*-

@c This file is part of the StarPU Handbook.
@c Copyright (C) 2009--2011  Universit@'e de Bordeaux 1
@c Copyright (C) 2010, 2011  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
@c Copyright (C) 2011 Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique
@c See the file starpu.texi for copying conditions.

@node Basic Examples
@chapter Basic Examples

@menu
* Compiling and linking options::  
* Hello World::                 Submitting Tasks
* Scaling a Vector::            Manipulating Data
* Vector Scaling on an Hybrid CPU/GPU Machine::  Handling Heterogeneous Architectures
@end menu

@node Compiling and linking options
@section Compiling and linking options

Let's suppose StarPU has been installed in the directory
@code{$STARPU_DIR}. As explained in @ref{Setting flags for compiling and linking applications},
the variable @code{PKG_CONFIG_PATH} needs to be set. It is also
necessary to set the variable @code{LD_LIBRARY_PATH} to locate dynamic
libraries at runtime.

@example
% PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$STARPU_DIR/lib/pkgconfig:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH
% LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$STARPU_DIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
@end example

The Makefile could for instance contain the following lines to define which
options must be given to the compiler and to the linker:

@cartouche
@example
CFLAGS          +=      $$(pkg-config --cflags libstarpu)
LDFLAGS         +=      $$(pkg-config --libs libstarpu)
@end example
@end cartouche

Also pass the @code{--static} option if the application is to be linked statically.

@node Hello World
@section Hello World

@menu
* Required Headers::            
* Defining a Codelet::          
* Submitting a Task::           
* Execution of Hello World::    
@end menu

In this section, we show how to implement a simple program that submits a task to StarPU.

@node Required Headers
@subsection Required Headers

The @code{starpu.h} header should be included in any code using StarPU.

@cartouche
@smallexample
#include <starpu.h>
@end smallexample
@end cartouche


@node Defining a Codelet
@subsection Defining a Codelet

@cartouche
@smallexample
struct params @{
    int i;
    float f;
@};
void cpu_func(void *buffers[], void *cl_arg)
@{
    struct params *params = cl_arg;

    printf("Hello world (params = @{%i, %f@} )\n", params->i, params->f);
@}

struct starpu_codelet cl =
@{
    .where = STARPU_CPU,
    .cpu_funcs = @{ cpu_func, NULL @},
    .nbuffers = 0
@};
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

A codelet is a structure that represents a computational kernel. Such a codelet
may contain an implementation of the same kernel on different architectures
(e.g. CUDA, Cell's SPU, x86, ...).

The @code{nbuffers} field specifies the number of data buffers that are
manipulated by the codelet: here the codelet does not access or modify any data
that is controlled by our data management library. Note that the argument
passed to the codelet (the @code{cl_arg} field of the @code{starpu_task}
structure) does not count as a buffer since it is not managed by our data
management library, but just contain trivial parameters.

@c TODO need a crossref to the proper description of "where" see bla for more ...
We create a codelet which may only be executed on the CPUs. The @code{where}
field is a bitmask that defines where the codelet may be executed. Here, the
@code{STARPU_CPU} value means that only CPUs can execute this codelet
(@pxref{Codelets and Tasks} for more details on this field).
When a CPU core executes a codelet, it calls the @code{cpu_func} function,
which @emph{must} have the following prototype:

@code{void (*cpu_func)(void *buffers[], void *cl_arg);}

In this example, we can ignore the first argument of this function which gives a
description of the input and output buffers (e.g. the size and the location of
the matrices) since there is none.
The second argument is a pointer to a buffer passed as an
argument to the codelet by the means of the @code{cl_arg} field of the
@code{starpu_task} structure.

@c TODO rewrite so that it is a little clearer ?
Be aware that this may be a pointer to a
@emph{copy} of the actual buffer, and not the pointer given by the programmer:
if the codelet modifies this buffer, there is no guarantee that the initial
buffer will be modified as well: this for instance implies that the buffer
cannot be used as a synchronization medium. If synchronization is needed, data
has to be registered to StarPU, see @ref{Scaling a Vector}.

@node Submitting a Task
@subsection Submitting a Task

@cartouche
@smallexample
void callback_func(void *callback_arg)
@{
    printf("Callback function (arg %x)\n", callback_arg);
@}

int main(int argc, char **argv)
@{
    /* @b{initialize StarPU} */
    starpu_init(NULL);

    struct starpu_task *task = starpu_task_create();

    task->cl = &cl; /* @b{Pointer to the codelet defined above} */

    struct params params = @{ 1, 2.0f @};
    task->cl_arg = &params;
    task->cl_arg_size = sizeof(params);

    task->callback_func = callback_func;
    task->callback_arg = 0x42;

    /* @b{starpu_task_submit will be a blocking call} */
    task->synchronous = 1;

    /* @b{submit the task to StarPU} */
    starpu_task_submit(task);

    /* @b{terminate StarPU} */
    starpu_shutdown();

    return 0;
@}
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

Before submitting any tasks to StarPU, @code{starpu_init} must be called. The
@code{NULL} argument specifies that we use default configuration. Tasks cannot
be submitted after the termination of StarPU by a call to
@code{starpu_shutdown}.

In the example above, a task structure is allocated by a call to
@code{starpu_task_create}. This function only allocates and fills the
corresponding structure with the default settings (@pxref{Codelets and
Tasks, starpu_task_create}), but it does not submit the task to StarPU.

@c not really clear ;)
The @code{cl} field is a pointer to the codelet which the task will
execute: in other words, the codelet structure describes which computational
kernel should be offloaded on the different architectures, and the task
structure is a wrapper containing a codelet and the piece of data on which the
codelet should operate.

The optional @code{cl_arg} field is a pointer to a buffer (of size
@code{cl_arg_size}) with some parameters for the kernel
described by the codelet. For instance, if a codelet implements a computational
kernel that multiplies its input vector by a constant, the constant could be
specified by the means of this buffer, instead of registering it as a StarPU
data. It must however be noted that StarPU avoids making copy whenever possible
and rather passes the pointer as such, so the buffer which is pointed at must
kept allocated until the task terminates, and if several tasks are submitted
with various parameters, each of them must be given a pointer to their own
buffer.

Once a task has been executed, an optional callback function is be called.
While the computational kernel could be offloaded on various architectures, the
callback function is always executed on a CPU. The @code{callback_arg}
pointer is passed as an argument of the callback. The prototype of a callback
function must be:

@code{void (*callback_function)(void *);}

If the @code{synchronous} field is non-zero, task submission will be
synchronous: the @code{starpu_task_submit} function will not return until the
task was executed. Note that the @code{starpu_shutdown} method does not
guarantee that asynchronous tasks have been executed before it returns,
@code{starpu_task_wait_for_all} can be used to that effect, or data can be
unregistered (@code{starpu_data_unregister(vector_handle);}), which will
implicitly wait for all the tasks scheduled to work on it, unless explicitly
disabled thanks to @code{starpu_data_set_default_sequential_consistency_flag} or
@code{starpu_data_set_sequential_consistency_flag}.

@node Execution of Hello World
@subsection Execution of Hello World

@smallexample
% make hello_world
cc $(pkg-config --cflags libstarpu)  $(pkg-config --libs libstarpu) hello_world.c -o hello_world
% ./hello_world
Hello world (params = @{1, 2.000000@} )
Callback function (arg 42)
@end smallexample

@node Scaling a Vector
@section Manipulating Data: Scaling a Vector

The previous example has shown how to submit tasks. In this section,
we show how StarPU tasks can manipulate data. The full source code for
this example is given in @ref{Full source code for the 'Scaling a Vector' example}.

@menu
* Source code of Vector Scaling::  
* Execution of Vector Scaling::  
@end menu

@node Source code of Vector Scaling
@subsection Source code of Vector Scaling

Programmers can describe the data layout of their application so that StarPU is
responsible for enforcing data coherency and availability across the machine.
Instead of handling complex (and non-portable) mechanisms to perform data
movements, programmers only declare which piece of data is accessed and/or
modified by a task, and StarPU makes sure that when a computational kernel
starts somewhere (e.g. on a GPU), its data are available locally.

Before submitting those tasks, the programmer first needs to declare the
different pieces of data to StarPU using the @code{starpu_*_data_register}
functions. To ease the development of applications for StarPU, it is possible
to describe multiple types of data layout. A type of data layout is called an
@b{interface}. There are different predefined interfaces available in StarPU:
here we will consider the @b{vector interface}.

The following lines show how to declare an array of @code{NX} elements of type
@code{float} using the vector interface:

@cartouche
@smallexample
float vector[NX];

starpu_data_handle_t vector_handle;
starpu_vector_data_register(&vector_handle, 0, (uintptr_t)vector, NX,
                            sizeof(vector[0]));
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

The first argument, called the @b{data handle}, is an opaque pointer which
designates the array in StarPU. This is also the structure which is used to
describe which data is used by a task. The second argument is the node number
where the data originally resides. Here it is 0 since the @code{vector} array is in
the main memory. Then comes the pointer @code{vector} where the data can be found in main memory,
the number of elements in the vector and the size of each element.
The following shows how to construct a StarPU task that will manipulate the
vector and a constant factor.

@cartouche
@smallexample
float factor = 3.14;
struct starpu_task *task = starpu_task_create();

task->cl = &cl;                          /* @b{Pointer to the codelet defined below} */
task->buffers[0].handle = vector_handle; /* @b{First parameter of the codelet} */
task->buffers[0].mode = STARPU_RW;
task->cl_arg = &factor;
task->cl_arg_size = sizeof(factor);
task->synchronous = 1;

starpu_task_submit(task);
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

Since the factor is a mere constant float value parameter,
it does not need a preliminary registration, and
can just be passed through the @code{cl_arg} pointer like in the previous
example.  The vector parameter is described by its handle.
There are two fields in each element of the @code{buffers} array.
@code{handle} is the handle of the data, and @code{mode} specifies how the
kernel will access the data (@code{STARPU_R} for read-only, @code{STARPU_W} for
write-only and @code{STARPU_RW} for read and write access).

The definition of the codelet can be written as follows:

@cartouche
@smallexample
void scal_cpu_func(void *buffers[], void *cl_arg)
@{
    unsigned i;
    float *factor = cl_arg;

    /* length of the vector */
    unsigned n = STARPU_VECTOR_GET_NX(buffers[0]);
    /* CPU copy of the vector pointer */
    float *val = (float *)STARPU_VECTOR_GET_PTR(buffers[0]);

    for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
        val[i] *= *factor;
@}

struct starpu_codelet cl = @{
    .where = STARPU_CPU,
    .cpu_funcs = @{ scal_cpu_func, NULL @},
    .nbuffers = 1
@};
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

The first argument is an array that gives
a description of all the buffers passed in the @code{task->buffers}@ array. The
size of this array is given by the @code{nbuffers} field of the codelet
structure. For the sake of genericity, this array contains pointers to the
different interfaces describing each buffer.  In the case of the @b{vector
interface}, the location of the vector (resp. its length) is accessible in the
@code{ptr} (resp. @code{nx}) of this array. Since the vector is accessed in a
read-write fashion, any modification will automatically affect future accesses
to this vector made by other tasks.

The second argument of the @code{scal_cpu_func} function contains a pointer to the
parameters of the codelet (given in @code{task->cl_arg}), so that we read the
constant factor from this pointer.

@node Execution of Vector Scaling
@subsection Execution of Vector Scaling

@smallexample
% make vector_scal
cc $(pkg-config --cflags libstarpu)  $(pkg-config --libs libstarpu)  vector_scal.c   -o vector_scal
% ./vector_scal
0.000000 3.000000 6.000000 9.000000 12.000000
@end smallexample

@node Vector Scaling on an Hybrid CPU/GPU Machine
@section Vector Scaling on an Hybrid CPU/GPU Machine

Contrary to the previous examples, the task submitted in this example may not
only be executed by the CPUs, but also by a CUDA device.

@menu
* Definition of the CUDA Kernel::  
* Definition of the OpenCL Kernel::  
* Definition of the Main Code::  
* Execution of Hybrid Vector Scaling::  
@end menu

@node Definition of the CUDA Kernel
@subsection Definition of the CUDA Kernel

The CUDA implementation can be written as follows. It needs to be compiled with
a CUDA compiler such as nvcc, the NVIDIA CUDA compiler driver. It must be noted
that the vector pointer returned by STARPU_VECTOR_GET_PTR is here a pointer in GPU
memory, so that it can be passed as such to the @code{vector_mult_cuda} kernel
call.

@cartouche
@smallexample
#include <starpu.h>
#include <starpu_cuda.h>

static __global__ void vector_mult_cuda(float *val, unsigned n,
                                        float factor)
@{
    unsigned i =  blockIdx.x*blockDim.x + threadIdx.x;
    if (i < n)
        val[i] *= factor;
@}

extern "C" void scal_cuda_func(void *buffers[], void *_args)
@{
    float *factor = (float *)_args;

    /* length of the vector */
    unsigned n = STARPU_VECTOR_GET_NX(buffers[0]);
    /* CUDA copy of the vector pointer */
    float *val = (float *)STARPU_VECTOR_GET_PTR(buffers[0]);
    unsigned threads_per_block = 64;
    unsigned nblocks = (n + threads_per_block-1) / threads_per_block;

@i{    vector_mult_cuda<<<nblocks,threads_per_block, 0, starpu_cuda_get_local_stream()>>>(val, n, *factor);}

@i{    cudaStreamSynchronize(starpu_cuda_get_local_stream());}
@}
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

@node Definition of the OpenCL Kernel
@subsection Definition of the OpenCL Kernel

The OpenCL implementation can be written as follows. StarPU provides
tools to compile a OpenCL kernel stored in a file.

@cartouche
@smallexample
__kernel void vector_mult_opencl(__global float* val, int nx, float factor)
@{
        const int i = get_global_id(0);
        if (i < nx) @{
                val[i] *= factor;
        @}
@}
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

Contrary to CUDA and CPU, @code{STARPU_VECTOR_GET_DEV_HANDLE} has to be used,
which returns a @code{cl_mem} (which is not a device pointer, but an OpenCL
handle), which can be passed as such to the OpenCL kernel. The difference is
important when using partitioning, see @ref{Partitioning Data}.

@cartouche
@smallexample
#include <starpu.h>
@i{#include <starpu_opencl.h>}

@i{extern struct starpu_opencl_program programs;}

void scal_opencl_func(void *buffers[], void *_args)
@{
    float *factor = _args;
@i{    int id, devid, err;}
@i{    cl_kernel kernel;}
@i{    cl_command_queue queue;}
@i{    cl_event event;}

    /* length of the vector */
    unsigned n = STARPU_VECTOR_GET_NX(buffers[0]);
    /* OpenCL copy of the vector pointer */
    cl_mem val = (cl_mem) STARPU_VECTOR_GET_DEV_HANDLE(buffers[0]);

@i{    id = starpu_worker_get_id();}
@i{    devid = starpu_worker_get_devid(id);}

@i{    err = starpu_opencl_load_kernel(&kernel, &queue, &programs,}
@i{                    "vector_mult_opencl", devid);   /* @b{Name of the codelet defined above} */}
@i{    if (err != CL_SUCCESS) STARPU_OPENCL_REPORT_ERROR(err);}

@i{    err = clSetKernelArg(kernel, 0, sizeof(val), &val);}
@i{    err |= clSetKernelArg(kernel, 1, sizeof(n), &n);}
@i{    err |= clSetKernelArg(kernel, 2, sizeof(*factor), factor);}
@i{    if (err) STARPU_OPENCL_REPORT_ERROR(err);}

@i{    @{}
@i{        size_t global=1;}
@i{        size_t local=1;}
@i{        err = clEnqueueNDRangeKernel(queue, kernel, 1, NULL, &global, &local, 0, NULL, &event);}
@i{        if (err != CL_SUCCESS) STARPU_OPENCL_REPORT_ERROR(err);}
@i{    @}}

@i{    clFinish(queue);}
@i{    starpu_opencl_collect_stats(event);}
@i{    clReleaseEvent(event);}

@i{    starpu_opencl_release_kernel(kernel);}
@}
@end smallexample
@end cartouche


@node Definition of the Main Code
@subsection Definition of the Main Code

The CPU implementation is the same as in the previous section.

Here is the source of the main application. You can notice the value of the
field @code{where} for the codelet. We specify
@code{STARPU_CPU|STARPU_CUDA|STARPU_OPENCL} to indicate to StarPU that the codelet
can be executed either on a CPU or on a CUDA or an OpenCL device.

@cartouche
@smallexample
#include <starpu.h>

#define NX 2048

extern void scal_cuda_func(void *buffers[], void *_args);
extern void scal_cpu_func(void *buffers[], void *_args);
extern void scal_opencl_func(void *buffers[], void *_args);

/* @b{Definition of the codelet} */
static struct starpu_codelet cl = @{
    .where = STARPU_CPU|STARPU_CUDA|STARPU_OPENCL; /* @b{It can be executed on a CPU,} */
                                     /* @b{on a CUDA device, or on an OpenCL device} */
    .cuda_funcs = @{ scal_cuda_func, NULL @},
    .cpu_funcs = @{ scal_cpu_func, NULL @},
    .opencl_funcs = @{ scal_opencl_func, NULL @},
    .nbuffers = 1
@}

#ifdef STARPU_USE_OPENCL
/* @b{The compiled version of the OpenCL program} */
struct starpu_opencl_program programs;
#endif

int main(int argc, char **argv)
@{
    float *vector;
    int i, ret;
    float factor=3.0;
    struct starpu_task *task;
    starpu_data_handle_t vector_handle;

    starpu_init(NULL);                            /* @b{Initialising StarPU} */

#ifdef STARPU_USE_OPENCL
    starpu_opencl_load_opencl_from_file(
            "examples/basic_examples/vector_scal_opencl_codelet.cl",
            &programs, NULL);
#endif

    vector = malloc(NX*sizeof(vector[0]));
    assert(vector);
    for(i=0 ; i<NX ; i++) vector[i] = i;
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

@cartouche
@smallexample
    /* @b{Registering data within StarPU} */
    starpu_vector_data_register(&vector_handle, 0, (uintptr_t)vector,
                                NX, sizeof(vector[0]));

    /* @b{Definition of the task} */
    task = starpu_task_create();
    task->cl = &cl;
    task->buffers[0].handle = vector_handle;
    task->buffers[0].mode = STARPU_RW;
    task->cl_arg = &factor;
    task->cl_arg_size = sizeof(factor);
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

@cartouche
@smallexample
    /* @b{Submitting the task} */
    ret = starpu_task_submit(task);
    if (ret == -ENODEV) @{
            fprintf(stderr, "No worker may execute this task\n");
            return 1;
    @}

@c TODO: Mmm, should rather be an unregistration with an implicit dependency, no?
    /* @b{Waiting for its termination} */
    starpu_task_wait_for_all();

    /* @b{Update the vector in RAM} */
    starpu_data_acquire(vector_handle, STARPU_R);
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

@cartouche
@smallexample
    /* @b{Access the data} */
    for(i=0 ; i<NX; i++) @{
      fprintf(stderr, "%f ", vector[i]);
    @}
    fprintf(stderr, "\n");

    /* @b{Release the RAM view of the data before unregistering it and shutting down StarPU} */
    starpu_data_release(vector_handle);
    starpu_data_unregister(vector_handle);
    starpu_shutdown();

    return 0;
@}
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

@node Execution of Hybrid Vector Scaling
@subsection Execution of Hybrid Vector Scaling

The Makefile given at the beginning of the section must be extended to
give the rules to compile the CUDA source code. Note that the source
file of the OpenCL kernel does not need to be compiled now, it will
be compiled at run-time when calling the function
@code{starpu_opencl_load_opencl_from_file()} (@pxref{starpu_opencl_load_opencl_from_file}).

@cartouche
@smallexample
CFLAGS  += $(shell pkg-config --cflags libstarpu)
LDFLAGS += $(shell pkg-config --libs libstarpu)
CC       = gcc

vector_scal: vector_scal.o vector_scal_cpu.o vector_scal_cuda.o vector_scal_opencl.o

%.o: %.cu
       nvcc $(CFLAGS) $< -c $@

clean:
       rm -f vector_scal *.o
@end smallexample
@end cartouche

@smallexample
% make
@end smallexample

and to execute it, with the default configuration:

@smallexample
% ./vector_scal
0.000000 3.000000 6.000000 9.000000 12.000000
@end smallexample

or for example, by disabling CPU devices:

@smallexample
% STARPU_NCPUS=0 ./vector_scal
0.000000 3.000000 6.000000 9.000000 12.000000
@end smallexample

or by disabling CUDA devices (which may permit to enable the use of OpenCL,
see @ref{Enabling OpenCL}):

@smallexample
% STARPU_NCUDA=0 ./vector_scal
0.000000 3.000000 6.000000 9.000000 12.000000
@end smallexample