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More on virtual communication with the message-passing interface.

The message-passing interface (MPI) is a standard that allows numerous computers to communicate in order to achieve a large-scale peer-to-peer communication in a high-performance matter. OK, let's face it, writing computer programs with MPI can be hard and tedious. However, one can devise a set of techniques that collectively enhance his/her software craftmanship. I write C++ (1998) using MPI -- you already know that if you read my blog. In ray , I implemented a few tricks to make the message-passing thing a lot easier. Slave modes and master modes First, each MPI rank (a rank is usually mapped to a process, if that matters) has a slave mode and a master mode. A slave mode can be called SLAVE_MODE_COUNT_ENTRIES, which would obviously count entries. Master modes follow the same principle. If an MPI rank is in a state such that it must wait for others, than there is this very special slave mode called SLAVE_MODE_DO_NOTHING. Each of these modes has an associated callback