Making Performance Analysis and Tuning Part of the Software Development Cycle

Although there are a number of performance tools available to Department of Defense (DoD) users, the process of performance analysis and tuning has yet to become an integral part of the DoD software development cycle. Instead, performance analysis and tuning is the domain of a small number of experts who cannot possibly address all the codes that need attention. We believe the main reasons for this are a lack of knowledge about these tools, the real or perceived steep learning curve required to use them, and the absence of a centralized method that incorporates their use in the software development cycle. This paper presents ongoing efforts to enable a larger number of DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) users to benefit from available performance analysis tools by integrating them into the Eclipse Parallel Tools Platform (Eclipse/PTP), an integrated development environment for parallel programs.