Glossary
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## Glossary

asynchronous

  An asynchronous operation or function proceeds in parallel with its initiator. The initiator must check later to see if the operation or function has completed.

blocking

  A blocking function is one that does not return until the function is complete.

broadcast

  To send messages to multiple tasks. Often, a broadcast is used in the sense of sending to all tasks, whereas multicast is used in the sense of sending to an arbitrary set of tasks.

`cplx`

  A data item consisting of two successive `float` types.

`dcplx`

  A data item consisting of two successive `double` types.

dynamic groups

  Groups in which tasks can join and leave groups at any time.

EU

  Emory University.

global groups

  A group consisting of all the tasks (or PEs) in the MPP partition.

message passing

  A parallel programming style in which explicit messages (containing a user-defined, integer message type and data) are sent between tasks.

multicast

  To send messages to multiple tasks. See also broadcast.

nonblocking

  A nonblocking function is one that returns immediately.

NQE

  Network Queuing Environment.

ORNL

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

PE

  Processing element.

probe

  A message passing concept in which a check is made to see if a message is available, though the message is not actually received at that time.

PVM

  Parallel Virtual Machine.

PVM console

  A user-level command that lets you monitor and control your PVM system. The console is run with the command `pvm`.

PVM daemon

  A user-level process that controls and manages PVM activity on a given host machine. The daemon is run with the command `pvmd3`.

pvm_tid

  The name used in this manual to refer to a PVM task identifier, which is used to reference a specific PVM task.

RPC

  Remote Procedure Call.

SIMD

  Single instruction, multiple data.

SPMD

  Same program, multiple data.

Stand-alone mode

  PVM is used for communication between tasks within a single executable file with no PVM daemon present.

stride

  The spacing between elements.

synchronous

  A synchronous operation or function does not return control to its initiator until it has completed the requested operation or function.

task

  An independent, parallel process.

task identifier

  A 32-bit integer uniquely identifying a PVM task.

UDP

  User datagram protocol.

UT

  University of Tennessee.

XDR

  eXternal Data Representation.

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