Section: New Results

Clarification of the MPI semantics

In the framework of the MPI Forum, we have been involved in several active working groups, in particular the “Terms and Conventions” Working Group. The work carried out in this group has lead to a timely study and proposed clarifications, revisions, and enhancements to the Message Passing Interface's (MPI 's) Semantic Terms and Conventions. To enhance MPI , a clearer understanding of the meaning of the key terminology has proven essential, and, surprisingly, important concepts remain underspecified, ambiguous and, in some cases, inconsistent and/or conflicting despite 26 years of standardization. This work [16] addresses these concerns comprehensively and usefully informs MPI developers, implementors, those teaching and learning MPI , and power users alike about key aspects of existing conventions, syntax, and semantics. This work will also be a useful driver for great clarity in current and future standardization and implementation efforts for MPI .