by Kelvin Nilsen, Atego, EETimes
Editor’s Note: In this final part in a three-part series, Atego’s Kelvin Nilsen provides guidelines on how to use the combination of the Java parallel programming language and traditional sequential C and C++ methodologies to achieve real-time multicore software operation.

When multiple processors work together to accomplish a particular work assignment, the goal to minimize coordination activities may conflict with the need to assure that each processor has plenty of worthwhile work to perform. Coordination is often required to check the status of each processor’s ongoing activities, as the work completed by one processor may affect the work assignments given to others.

Individual processors are most efficient if they can focus their efforts on a small set of tasks that remain resident in that processor’s local memory and cache. However, aligning the efforts of each processor with globally important objectives may require frequent redirection of each individual processor’s efforts. Trading off between productivity of individual processors and satisfaction of global objectives is an intricate balancing act. This section discusses several alternative approaches to achieving this, and ends with a discussion of how to use Java in combination with the C and C++ programming languages.

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