Programming languages, mainly in the context of parallelism and concurrency
Theoretical computer science and its application to real life problems
Other topis of professional interests:
Programming in general
I have developed software using: C/C++ (+ MPI, OpenMP, pthreads), Python,
LISP, occam, Parallel C, PowerScript, DynaScript, Clipper, Pascal, BASIC
I have also commited short pieces of code in Chapel (a new HPC language), Modula, Perl, SQL
I have developed code for some interesting hardware: IBM BlueGene/L,
an IBM eServer p5-575 cluster, SGI Altix 3700,
SUN Fire 15K,
a cluster of SUN Fire x4100, SUN Fire v440, SUN Enterprise 450,
transputer T9000 systems,
MEiKO transputer system (T414)
Parallel computer architecture
Algorithms
The focus of current research
My first research project deals with the development of tools and practices that make possible to reduce the effort required to create efficient parallel programs.
As part of this effort I lead development of the Adjustable Parallel Processing Library (APPL). The library facilitates the development of master-worker parallel applications. The library allows for use of diverse hardware for conducting parallel processing in the presence of failures. Additionally, tests executed on SUN Fire
15K with 32 CPUs and on IBM BlueGene/L with 512 nodes demonstrate that programs developed on top of
APPL may be efficiently executed on high performance parallel hardware, too.
Also, as part of this effort I investigate the possibility of enhancing Chapel, a new parallel programming language, with features that would allow a programmer to take into account fairly detailed information regarding the architecture of a computing system.
This matters in case of both small computing systems (for example heterogeneous multicores) and large parallel computers (for example equipped with a fixed degree connection network or a network of switches).
My second project deals with problems that require processing of large data sets and/or time
consuming computation. One of the examples is the problem of finding similarities in a given data set.
Possible area of its application include data compression and genomics.
Another exmple is the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW), a well known optimization problem.
Since programs developed during this project are time and memory consumig, they serve as test cases for the parallel programming project.
The focus of previous research
PRAM simulations: efficient PRAM simulations using fixed-degree interconnection networks
Interconnection networks: three-dimensional interconnection networks based on honeycomb
A member of the Programme Committee of the "Parallel and Distributed Systems" track
of the International Conference on P2P,
Parallel, Grid, Cloud and Internet Computing (3PGCIC-2010); November
4-6, 2010, Fukuoka Institute of Technology (FIT), Fukuoka, Japan.
Publications
W. Mikanik,
Portability of Performance in High-Level Parallel Programming,
8th HiPEAC industrial workshop,
Wroclaw 2009
Z.J. Czech, W. Mikanik, R. Skinderowicz,
Implementing a parallel simulated annealing algorithm,
8th International Conference on Parallel Processing and Applied Mathematics, Wroclaw, 2009
W. Mikanik,
Implementacja rownoleglego algorytmu znajdowania pokrycia zbioru,
SWD'2008, Systemy Wspomagania Decyzji, Zakopane 2008.
Z.J. Czech, P. Fabian,
W. Mikanik, B. Wieczorek,
Systemy operacyjne i jezyki obliczen rownoleglych,
Skrypt Politechniki Slaskiej nr 2121, Gliwice 1998.
Z.J. Czech, W. Mikanik,
Randomized
PRAM Simulation using T9000 Transputers,
Proc. of the Int. Conf. on High-Performance
Computing and Networking (HPCN Europe), Brussels, Belgium, April 1996;
Lectures Notes in Computer Science 1067, Springer-Verlag, 736-743.
Finding similarities in data, Kingston University, London, UK (May 2004)
CRCW PRAM Simulation in Parallel Computers with Distributed Memory,
Seminar in the Institute of the Computer Science,
University of Technology,
Poznan,
30-03-2000
Honeycomb Based Three-Dimensional Interconnection Networks,
Parallel Processing and Supercomputing Seminar,
Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology,
Warsaw, 22-01-2000.
EREW PRAM Simulation Using Fully Connected Transputer System,
Seminar for Coordinators of Grants in Computer Science,
Zakopane 1996.
PRAM Simulations Using T9000 Transputers, Jagiellonian University,
IX Forum of Theoretical Computer Science, Krakow, 1-2 December 1995.
Wojciech Mikanik, PhD
Dr inz. Wojciech Mikanik
