OpenVMS RTL Parallel Processing (PPL$) Manual

This document, the OpenVMS RTL Parallel Processing (PPL$) Manual (May 1993), provides comprehensive documentation for the PPL$ facility within the OpenVMS Run-Time Library. The manual is intended for system and application programmers looking to implement parallel processing, concurrent programming, and interprocess communication on OpenVMS systems.

Key sections of the document include:

• Concepts and Models: An overview of parallel processing versus multiprogramming, and descriptions of supported software models, including master/slave, pipelining, and work queue processing.
• Management and Operations: Guidance on managing processes (creating/terminating participants) and application-wide naming.
• Shared Memory and Virtual Memory: Information on creating and managing shared memory sections (global sections) and virtual memory zones available to multiple processes.
• Synchronization: Detailed explanations and reference material for synchronization elements, including barriers, events, semaphores, spin locks, and work queues, which are essential for coordinating concurrent processes.
• Programming Considerations: Best practices for application development, including granularity, data dependence, deadlock avoidance, and performance measurement models.
• Programming Examples: Practical code examples demonstrating how to use PPL$ routines in BLISS, DEC FORTRAN, and DEC C.
• Reference Section: A comprehensive, alphabetically ordered reference guide to every PPL$ library routine, detailing their formats, arguments, and return condition values.