parallel.texi

A C++ class library for scientific computing

While Blitz++ can be used for parallel computing, it was not designed
primarily for this purpose.  For this reason, you may want to investigate
some other available libraries, such as POOMA, before choosing to implement
a parallel code using Blitz++.

@section Blitz++ and thread safety
@cindex parallel computing

@cindex thread safety

To enable thread-safety in Blitz++, you need to do one of these things:

@findex BZ_THREADSAFE
@findex BZ_MUTEX_...

@itemize @bullet

@findex REENTRANT
@item  Compile with @code{gcc -pthread}, or @code{CC -mt} under Solaris.
(These options define @code{_REENTRANT}, which tells Blitz++ to generate
thread-safe code).

@item  Compile with @code{-DBZ_THREADSAFE}, or @code{#define BZ_THREADSAFE}
before including any Blitz++ headers.

@end itemize

In threadsafe mode, Blitz++ array reference counts are safeguarded by a
mutex.  By default, pthread mutexes are used.  If you would prefer a
different mutex implementation, add the appropriate @code{BZ_MUTEX} macros
to @code{<blitz/blitz.h>} and send them to @code{blitz-dev@@oonumerics.org}
for incorporation.

@cindex locking (thread safety)

Blitz++ does not do locking for every array element access; this would
result in terrible performance.  It is the job of the library user to ensure
that appropriate synchronization is used.