HPC++ Parallel Standard Template Library (PSTL)

• Container class templates provide standard definitions for common aggregate data structures, including vector, list, deque, set and map.

• Iterators generalize the concept of a pointer. There are five basic categories of iterators: random access, bidirectional, forward, input and output.

• Generic algorithms are function templates that allow standard element-wise operations to be applied to containers via iterators.

• Function objects are created by wrapping functions with classes that typically have only operator() defined. They are used by the generic algorithms in place of function pointers because they provide greater efficiency.

• Adaptors are used to modify STL containers, iterators, or function objects. For example, container adaptors are provided to create stacks and queues, and iterator adaptors are provided to create reverse iterators to traverse an iteration space backwards.

The Parallel Standard Template Library extends the STL to include distributed containers, parallel iterators, and parallel algorithms. Currently, our implementation includes distributed versions of all seven STL containers along with parallel iterators for each. In addition, parallel versions of many of the STL algorithms have also been completed. The following sections describe parallel iterators, the distributed versions of STL containers, and the parallel algorithms.

• Parallel Iterators
• Distributed Container Classes
• Parallel Algorithms