Object serialization for marshalling data in a Java interface to MPI

Several Java bindings of the Message Passing Interface standard, MPI, have been developed recently.Message buffers have usually been restricted to arrays with elements of primitive type.We discuss use of the Java object serialization model for marshalling general communication data in MPI.This approach is compared with a Java transcription of the standard MPI derived datatype mechanism.We describe an implementation of the mpiJaua interface to MPI incorporating automatic object serialization.Benchmark results show that the current JDK implementation of serialization is (not unexpectedly) probably not fast.enough for high performance applications.Means of solving this problem are discussed.Pnmission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for Personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the tirst page.To copy othtmvise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, Kquires prior specific permission and/or a fee.