coNCePTuaL News

coNCePTuaL is a toolset which extends the notion of open source to
tests of network communication performance, especially in the context
of clusters and parallel computers. Log files produced by coNCePTuaL
automatically include not only the measurement data but also the
complete benchmark source code and a detailed description of the
computing environment in which the benchmark was run so anyone can
reproduce your performance test and its results. coNCePTuaL v0.6 is a
major new release which introduces an exciting new compiler backend:
latex_vis compiles a coNCePTuaL program into an Encapsulated
PostScript space-time diagram -- a feature not known to exist for any
other programming language. Even if you never actually run a
coNCePTuaL program, you can use the latex_vis backend to illustrate
communication patterns much quicker than with any other drawing tool.

A related new compiler backend, picl, compiles coNCePTuaL programs
into communication traces in PICL format. Unlike a trace of an actual
execution, these compiler-generated traces identify communication
events' logical time -- an idealized view in which operations that are
supposed to be concurrent occur at *exactly* the same time. This is
useful for explaining complex programs to others or for contrasting
idealized and actual communication patterns to help find performance
anomalies.

coNCePTuaL v0.6 is available for download from
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=117615&package_id=128068&release_id=316583
or follow the links from the the coNCePTuaL home page,
http://conceptual.sourceforge.net/.