ACTS Toolkit Support

Do general-purpose scientific software libraries make it easier to write parallel code? NERSC's support of the DOE2000 ACTS Toolkit will help answer that question. The Advanced Computational Testing and Simulation (ACTS) program has brought together a set of numerical, infrastructure, and runtime tools for developing parallel programs. Developed as research software at DOE laboratories and universities, the tools are now being tested for general production use and are undergoing further development for interoperability.

The ACTS Toolkit differs from other parallel tools projects in that it focuses primarily on software used inside an application, instead of on software used to develop an application. It includes tools that implement numerical methods, tools that manage the complexity of parallel programming, and tools that support wide-area applications.

ACTS tools are mostly libraries (including C, C++, and Fortran libraries). Most are designed specifically for distributed memory parallel computers, using MPI for communication. ACTS tools can make it less cumbersome and costly to develop scalable algorithms and can add functionality that makes applications simpler to use and analyze.

NERSC has established a new information and support center for the ACTS Toolkit (http://acts.nersc.gov). In addition to descriptions of the tools and pointers to documentation, the web site offers independent, unbiased evaluations and advice on what the tools are useful for. The main focus of the support center is on working directly with parallel application programmers, advising and assisting them in the incorporation of ACTS tools into their codes. The goal is to make it easier to develop high performance scientific applications, improving both performance and productivity.