hi there.. I am quite lost on the parallel programming topic...

I have a C++ economic model that up to now I was using in a old-fashion serialized way.
Now I have gained access to a large cluster where they use openMPI...

On my mind I can image where to parallel my code.. quite simply as 90% CPU time is used on a one-function loop..

The problem is that I am completely lost with all this MPI, openMPI, openMP.. even the wikipedia entry is a a black cloud of smoke to me..

There are several tutorials on the web, but I need first to understand what I am looking for.. can anyone point me to some light ??

Are openMPI and OpenMP the same??

Thanks,
sylvaticus

OpenMP and OpenMPI are not the same thing. OpenMP is simply an API for writing platform-independent parallel code. OpenMPI is an implementation of MPI, which is an API for communications targeting parallel computing.

While OpenMPI is in itself well satisfactory for writing parallel programs, it is very complicated, and you should steer well clear of a 100% MPI implementation unless you are serious about spending a lot of time with your program.

From the sounds of things, you would be much better off looking into OpenMP as a start by simply parallelizing your program (on multiple cores). OpenMP can be used in conjunction with OpenMPI in a cluster as well and you can extend your program later on if this is necessary.

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thank you jcookeman.. I'm start getting some ideas..
For those interested there is a very nice tutorial here.