The DOGMA approach to high-utilization supercomputing

Heterogeneous distributed computing has traditionally been a problematic undertaking which increases in complexity as heterogeneity increases. The recent advent of Java has made heterogeneous computing a fairly straightforward task. Nevertheless, many researchers have not considered the use of Java in a mainstream parallel programming environment. The performance of Java just-in-time compilers currently approaches optimized C for many applications, making Java a serious contender for supercomputing application development. This paper presents DOGMA (Distributed Object Group Metacomputing Architecture)-a new Java-based system which enables parallel computing on heterogeneous computers. DOGMA provides support for dedicated clusters as well as idle workstations through the use of a Web-based browse-in feature or the DOGMA screen saver, which improves workstation utilization. DOGMA supports parallel programming in both a traditional message-passing form and a novel object-oriented approach. This research provides a unified environment for developing high-performance supercomputing applications on heterogeneous systems.