CUDA C/C++ BASICS

NVIDIA Corporation
Parallelize

Applications

OpenACC Programming
Libraries Languages
Directives
What is CUDA?

CUDA Architecture
Expose GPU parallelism for general-purpose computing
Retain performance

CUDA C/C++
Based on industry-standard C/C++
Small set of extensions to enable heterogeneous programming
Straightforward APIs to manage devices, memory etc.

This session introduces CUDA C/C++

Introduction to CUDA C/C++

What will you learn in this session?

Start from Hello World!
Write and launch CUDA C/C++ kernels
Manage GPU memory
Manage communication and synchronization
Prerequisites

You (probably) need experience with C or C++

You dont need GPU experience

You dont need parallel programming experience

You dont need graphics experience

 Heterogeneous Computing

Blocks

Threads

Indexing
CONCEPTS Shared memory

__syncthreads()

Asynchronous operation

Handling errors

Managing devices
 CONCEPTS Heterogeneous Computing

Blocks

Threads

Indexing

Shared memory

__syncthreads()

Asynchronous operation

HELLO WORLD!
Handling errors

Managing devices
Heterogeneous Computing

Terminology:
Host The CPU and its memory (host memory)
Device The GPU and its memory (device memory)

Host Device
Heterogeneous Computing
#include <iostream>
#include <algorithm>

using namespace std;

#define N 1024
#define RADIUS 3
#define BLOCK_SIZE 16

__global__ void stencil_1d(int *in, int *out) {

__shared__ int temp[BLOCK_SIZE + 2 * RADIUS];
int gindex = threadIdx.x + blockIdx.x * blockDim.x;
int lindex = threadIdx.x + RADIUS;

// Read input elements into shared memory

temp[lindex] = in[gindex];
if (threadIdx.x < RADIUS) {
temp[lindex - RADIUS] = in[gindex - RADIUS];
temp[lindex + BLOCK_SIZE] = in[gindex + BLOCK_SIZE];

parallel fn
}

// Synchronize (ensure all the data is available)

__syncthreads();

// Apply the stencil

int result = 0;
for (int offset = -RADIUS ; offset <= RADIUS ; offset++)
result += temp[lindex + offset];

// Store the result

out[gindex] = result;
}

void fill_ints(int *x, int n) {

fill_n(x, n, 1);
}

int main(void) {
int *in, *out; // host copies of a, b, c
int *d_in, *d_out; // device copies of a, b, c
int size = (N + 2*RADIUS) * sizeof(int);

// Alloc space for host copies and setup values

serial code
in = (int *)malloc(size); fill_ints(in, N + 2*RADIUS);
out = (int *)malloc(size); fill_ints(out, N + 2*RADIUS);

// Alloc space for device copies

cudaMalloc((void **)&d_in, size);
cudaMalloc((void **)&d_out, size);

// Copy to device
cudaMemcpy(d_in, in, size, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice);
cudaMemcpy(d_out, out, size, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice);

// Launch stencil_1d() kernel on GPU

stencil_1d<<<N/BLOCK_SIZE,BLOCK_SIZE>>>(d_in + RADIUS, d_out + RADIUS);

// Copy result back to host

parallel code
cudaMemcpy(out, d_out, size, cudaMemcpyDeviceToHost);

// Cleanup
free(in); free(out);
cudaFree(d_in); cudaFree(d_out);
return 0;
serial code
}
Simple Processing Flow

PCI Bus

1. Copy input data from CPU memory to GPU

memory
Simple Processing Flow

PCI Bus

1. Copy input data from CPU memory to GPU

memory
2. Load GPU program and execute,
caching data on chip for performance
Simple Processing Flow

PCI Bus

1. Copy input data from CPU memory to GPU

memory
2. Load GPU program and execute,
caching data on chip for performance
3. Copy results from GPU memory to CPU
memory
Hello World!

int main(void) {
printf("Hello World!\n");
return 0;
}
Output:
Standard C that runs on the host
$ nvcc
hello_world.cu
NVIDIA compiler (nvcc) can be used to $ a.out
compile programs with no device code Hello World!
$
Hello World! with Device Code

__global__ void mykernel(void) {

}

int main(void) {
mykernel<<<1,1>>>();
printf("Hello World!\n");
return 0;
}

Two new syntactic elements

Hello World! with Device Code

__global__ void mykernel(void) {

}

CUDA C/C++ keyword __global__ indicates a function that:

Runs on the device
Is called from host code

nvcc separates source code into host and device components

Device functions (e.g. mykernel()) processed by NVIDIA compiler
Host functions (e.g. main()) processed by standard host compiler
gcc, cl.exe
Hello World! with Device Code

mykernel<<<1,1>>>();

Triple angle brackets mark a call from host code to device code
Also called a kernel launch
Well return to the parameters (1,1) in a moment

Thats all that is required to execute a function on the GPU!

Hello World! with Device Code

__global__ void mykernel(void) {

}

Output:
int main(void) {
mykernel<<<1,1>>>();
$ nvcc hello.cu
printf("Hello World!\n");
$ a.out
return 0;
Hello World!
}
$

mykernel() does nothing, somewhat

anticlimactic!
Parallel Programming in CUDA C/C++

But wait GPU computing is about massive

parallelism!

We need a more interesting example

Well start by adding two integers and build up

to vector addition

a b c
Addition on the Device

A simple kernel to add two integers

__global__ void add(int *a, int *b, int *c) {

*c = *a + *b;
}

As before __global__ is a CUDA C/C++ keyword meaning

add() will execute on the device
add() will be called from the host
Addition on the Device

Note that we use pointers for the variables

__global__ void add(int *a, int *b, int *c) {

*c = *a + *b;
}

runs on the device, so a, b and c must point to device

add()
memory

We need to allocate memory on the GPU

Memory Management

Host and device memory are separate entities

Device pointers point to GPU memory
May be passed to/from host code
May not be dereferenced in host code
Host pointers point to CPU memory
May be passed to/from device code
May not be dereferenced in device code

Simple CUDA API for handling device memory

cudaMalloc(), cudaFree(), cudaMemcpy()
Similar to the C equivalents malloc(), free(), memcpy()
Addition on the Device: add()

Returning to our add() kernel

__global__ void add(int *a, int *b, int *c) {

*c = *a + *b;
}

Lets take a look at main()

Addition on the Device: main()

int main(void) {
int a, b, c; // host copies of a, b, c
int *d_a, *d_b, *d_c; // device copies of a, b, c
int size = sizeof(int);

// Allocate space for device copies of a, b, c

cudaMalloc((void **)&d_a, size);
cudaMalloc((void **)&d_b, size);
cudaMalloc((void **)&d_c, size);

// Setup input values

a = 2;
b = 7;
Addition on the Device: main()

// Copy inputs to device

cudaMemcpy(d_a, &a, size, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice);
cudaMemcpy(d_b, &b, size, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice);

// Launch add() kernel on GPU

add<<<1,1>>>(d_a, d_b, d_c);

// Copy result back to host

cudaMemcpy(&c, d_c, size, cudaMemcpyDeviceToHost);

// Cleanup
cudaFree(d_a); cudaFree(d_b); cudaFree(d_c);
return 0;
}
 CONCEPTS Heterogeneous Computing

Blocks

Threads

Indexing

Shared memory

__syncthreads()

Asynchronous operation

RUNNING IN PARALLEL
Handling errors

Managing devices
Moving to Parallel

GPU computing is about massive parallelism

So how do we run code in parallel on the device?

add<<< 1, 1 >>>();

add<<< N, 1 >>>();

Instead of executing add() once, execute N times in parallel

Vector Addition on the Device

With add() running in parallel we can do vector addition

Terminology: each parallel invocation of add() is referred to as a block

The set of blocks is referred to as a grid
Each invocation can refer to its block index using blockIdx.x

__global__ void add(int *a, int *b, int *c) {

c[blockIdx.x] = a[blockIdx.x] + b[blockIdx.x];
}

By using blockIdx.x to index into the array, each block handles a

different index
Vector Addition on the Device

__global__ void add(int *a, int *b, int *c) {

c[blockIdx.x] = a[blockIdx.x] + b[blockIdx.x];
}

On the device, each block can execute in parallel:

Block 0 Block 1 Block 2 Block 3

c[0] = a[0] + b[0]; c[1] = a[1] + b[1]; c[2] = a[2] + b[2]; c[3] = a[3] + b[3];
Vector Addition on the Device: add()

Returning to our parallelized add() kernel

__global__ void add(int *a, int *b, int *c) {

c[blockIdx.x] = a[blockIdx.x] + b[blockIdx.x];
}

Lets take a look at main()

Vector Addition on the Device: main()
#define N 512
int main(void) {
int *a, *b, *c; // host copies of a, b, c
int *d_a, *d_b, *d_c; // device copies of a, b, c
int size = N * sizeof(int);

// Alloc space for device copies of a, b, c

cudaMalloc((void **)&d_a, size);
cudaMalloc((void **)&d_b, size);
cudaMalloc((void **)&d_c, size);

// Alloc space for host copies of a, b, c and setup input values

a = (int *)malloc(size); random_ints(a, N);
b = (int *)malloc(size); random_ints(b, N);
c = (int *)malloc(size);
Vector Addition on the Device: main()
// Copy inputs to device
cudaMemcpy(d_a, a, size, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice);
cudaMemcpy(d_b, b, size, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice);

// Launch add() kernel on GPU with N blocks

add<<<N,1>>>(d_a, d_b, d_c);

// Copy result back to host

cudaMemcpy(c, d_c, size, cudaMemcpyDeviceToHost);

// Cleanup
free(a); free(b); free(c);
cudaFree(d_a); cudaFree(d_b); cudaFree(d_c);
return 0;
}
Review (1 of 2)

Difference between host and device

Host CPU
Device GPU

Using __global__ to declare a function as device code

Executes on the device
Called from the host

Passing parameters from host code to a device function

Review (2 of 2)

Basic device memory management

cudaMalloc()
cudaMemcpy()
cudaFree()

Launching parallel kernels

Launch N copies of add() with add<<<N,1>>>();
Use blockIdx.x to access block index
 CONCEPTS Heterogeneous Computing

Blocks

Threads

Indexing

Shared memory

__syncthreads()

Asynchronous operation

INTRODUCING THREADS
Handling errors

Managing devices
CUDA Threads

Terminology: a block can be split into parallel threads

Lets change add() to use parallel threads instead of parallel blocks

__global__ void add(int *a, int *b, int *c) {

c[threadIdx.x] = a[threadIdx.x] + b[threadIdx.x];
}

We use threadIdx.x instead of blockIdx.x

Need to make one change in main()

Vector Addition Using Threads: main()
#define N 512
int main(void) {
int *a, *b, *c; // host copies of a, b, c
int *d_a, *d_b, *d_c; // device copies of a, b, c
int size = N * sizeof(int);

// Alloc space for device copies of a, b, c

cudaMalloc((void **)&d_a, size);
cudaMalloc((void **)&d_b, size);
cudaMalloc((void **)&d_c, size);

// Alloc space for host copies of a, b, c and setup input values

a = (int *)malloc(size); random_ints(a, N);
b = (int *)malloc(size); random_ints(b, N);
c = (int *)malloc(size);
Vector Addition Using Threads: main()
// Copy inputs to device
cudaMemcpy(d_a, a, size, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice);
cudaMemcpy(d_b, b, size, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice);

// Launch add() kernel on GPU with N threads

add<<<1,N>>>(d_a, d_b, d_c);

// Copy result back to host

cudaMemcpy(c, d_c, size, cudaMemcpyDeviceToHost);

// Cleanup
free(a); free(b); free(c);
cudaFree(d_a); cudaFree(d_b); cudaFree(d_c);
return 0;
}
 CONCEPTS Heterogeneous Computing

Blocks

Threads

Indexing

Shared memory

__syncthreads()

Asynchronous operation

Handling errors
COMBINING THREADS Managing devices

AND BLOCKS
CUDA Execution Model

Thread: Sequential execution unit

All threads execute same sequential program
Threads execute in parallel

Threads Block: a group of threads

Executes on a single Streaming Multiprocessor (SM)
Threads within a block can cooperate
Light-weight synchronization
Data exchange

Grid: a collection of thread blocks

Thread blocks of a grid execute across multiple SMs
Thread blocks do not synchronize with each other
Communication between blocks is expensive
Combining Blocks and Threads

Weve seen parallel vector addition using:

Many blocks with one thread each
One block with many threads

Lets adapt vector addition to use both blocks and threads

First lets discuss indexing

Indexing Arrays with Blocks and Threads

No longer as simple as using blockIdx.x and threadIdx.x

Consider indexing an array with one element per thread (8 threads/block)

threadIdx.x threadIdx.x threadIdx.x threadIdx.x

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

blockIdx.x = 0 blockIdx.x = 1 blockIdx.x = 2 blockIdx.x = 3

With M threads/block a unique index for each thread is given by:

int index = threadIdx.x + blockIdx.x * M;
Indexing Arrays: Example

Which thread will operate on the red element?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

M = 8 threadIdx.x = 5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

blockIdx.x = 2
int index = threadIdx.x + blockIdx.x * M;
= 5 + 2 * 8;
= 21;
Vector Addition with Blocks and Threads

Use the built-in variable blockDim.x for threads per block

int index = threadIdx.x + blockIdx.x * blockDim.x;

Combined version of add() to use parallel threads and parallel

blocks
__global__ void add(int *a, int *b, int *c) {
int index = threadIdx.x + blockIdx.x * blockDim.x;
c[index] = a[index] + b[index];
}
What changes need to be made in main()?
Addition with Blocks and Threads: main()
#define N (2048*2048)
#define THREADS_PER_BLOCK 512
int main(void) {
int *a, *b, *c; // host copies of a, b, c
int *d_a, *d_b, *d_c; // device copies of a, b, c
int size = N * sizeof(int);

// Alloc space for device copies of a, b, c

cudaMalloc((void **)&d_a, size);
cudaMalloc((void **)&d_b, size);
cudaMalloc((void **)&d_c, size);

// Alloc space for host copies of a, b, c and setup input values

a = (int *)malloc(size); random_ints(a, N);
b = (int *)malloc(size); random_ints(b, N);
c = (int *)malloc(size);
Addition with Blocks and Threads: main()
// Copy inputs to device
cudaMemcpy(d_a, a, size, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice);
cudaMemcpy(d_b, b, size, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice);

// Launch add() kernel on GPU

add<<<N/THREADS_PER_BLOCK,THREADS_PER_BLOCK>>>(d_a, d_b, d_c);

// Copy result back to host

cudaMemcpy(c, d_c, size, cudaMemcpyDeviceToHost);

// Cleanup
free(a); free(b); free(c);
cudaFree(d_a); cudaFree(d_b); cudaFree(d_c);
return 0;
}
Handling Arbitrary Vector Sizes

Typical problems are not friendly multiples of blockDim.x

Avoid accessing beyond the end of the arrays:

__global__ void add(int *a, int *b, int *c, int n) {

int index = threadIdx.x + blockIdx.x * blockDim.x;
if (index < n)
c[index] = a[index] + b[index];
}
Update the kernel launch:
add<<<(N + M-1) / M,M>>>(d_a, d_b, d_c, N);
Why Bother with Threads?

Threads seem unnecessary

They add a level of complexity
What do we gain?

Unlike parallel blocks, threads have mechanisms to:

Communicate
Synchronize

To look closer, we need a new example

 CONCEPTS Heterogeneous Computing

Blocks

Threads

Indexing

Shared memory

__syncthreads()

Asynchronous operation

COOPERATING THREADS
Handling errors

Managing devices
1D Stencil

Consider applying a 1D stencil to a 1D array of elements

Each output element is the sum of input elements within a radius

If radius is 3, then each output element is the sum of 7 input

elements:

radius radius
Implementing Within a Block

Each thread processes one output element

blockDim.x elements per block

Input elements are read several times

With radius 3, each input element is read seven times
Sharing Data Between Threads

Terminology: within a block, threads share data via shared memory

Extremely fast on-chip memory, user-managed

Declare using __shared__, allocated per block

Data is not visible to threads in other blocks

Implementing With Shared Memory

Cache data in shared memory

Read (blockDim.x + 2 * radius) input elements from global memory to
shared memory
Compute blockDim.x output elements
Write blockDim.x output elements to global memory

Each block needs a halo of radius elements at each boundary

halo on left halo on right

blockDim.x output elements

Stencil Kernel

__global__ void stencil_1d(int *in, int *out) {

__shared__ int temp[BLOCK_SIZE + 2 * RADIUS];
int gindex = threadIdx.x + blockIdx.x * blockDim.x;
int lindex = threadIdx.x + RADIUS;

// Read input elements into shared memory

temp[lindex] = in[gindex];
if (threadIdx.x < RADIUS) {
temp[lindex - RADIUS] = in[gindex - RADIUS];
temp[lindex + BLOCK_SIZE] =
in[gindex + BLOCK_SIZE];
}
Stencil Kernel

// Apply the stencil

int result = 0;
for (int offset = -RADIUS ; offset <= RADIUS ; offset++)
result += temp[lindex + offset];

// Store the result

out[gindex] = result;
}
Data Race!

The stencil example will not work

Suppose thread 15 reads the halo before thread 0 has fetched it

temp[lindex] = in[gindex]; Store at temp[18]
if (threadIdx.x < RADIUS) {
temp[lindex RADIUS = in[gindex RADIUS]; Skipped, threadIdx > RADIUS
temp[lindex + BLOCK_SIZE] = in[gindex + BLOCK_SIZE];
}
int result = 0;
result += temp[lindex + 1]; Load from temp[19]
__syncthreads()

void __syncthreads();

Synchronizes all threads within a block

Used to prevent RAW / WAR / WAW hazards

All threads within the block must reach the barrier

In conditional code, the condition must be uniform across the block
Stencil Kernel
__global__ void stencil_1d(int *in, int *out) {
__shared__ int temp[BLOCK_SIZE + 2 * RADIUS];
int gindex = threadIdx.x + blockIdx.x * blockDim.x;
int lindex = threadIdx.x + radius;

// Read input elements into shared memory

temp[lindex] = in[gindex];
if (threadIdx.x < RADIUS) {
temp[lindex RADIUS] = in[gindex RADIUS];
temp[lindex + BLOCK_SIZE] = in[gindex + BLOCK_SIZE];
}

// Synchronize (ensure all the data is available)

__syncthreads();
Stencil Kernel

// Apply the stencil

int result = 0;
for (int offset = -RADIUS ; offset <= RADIUS ; offset++)
result += temp[lindex + offset];

// Store the result

out[gindex] = result;
}
Review (1 of 2)

Launching parallel threads

Launch N blocks with M threads per block with kernel<<<N,M>>>();
Use blockIdx.x to access block index within grid
Use threadIdx.x to access thread index within block

Assign elements to threads:

int index = threadIdx.x + blockIdx.x * blockDim.x;
Review (2 of 2)

Use __shared__ to declare a variable/array in shared memory

Data is shared between threads in a block
Not visible to threads in other blocks

Use __syncthreads() as a barrier

Use to prevent data hazards
 CONCEPTS Heterogeneous Computing

Blocks

Threads

Indexing

Shared memory

__syncthreads()

Asynchronous operation

Handling errors
MANAGING THE DEVICE Managing devices
Coordinating Host & Device

Kernel launches are asynchronous

Control returns to the CPU immediately

CPU needs to synchronize before consuming the results

cudaMemcpy() Blocks the CPU until the copy is complete

Copy begins when all preceding CUDA calls have completed
cudaMemcpyAsync() Asynchronous, does not block the CPU
cudaDeviceSynchronize() Blocks the CPU until all preceding CUDA calls have completed
Reporting Errors

All CUDA API calls return an error code (cudaError_t)

Error in the API call itself
OR
Error in an earlier asynchronous operation (e.g. kernel)

Get the error code for the last error:

cudaError_t cudaGetLastError(void)
Get a string to describe the error:
char *cudaGetErrorString(cudaError_t)

printf("%s\n", cudaGetErrorString(cudaGetLastError()));
Device Management

Application can query and select GPUs

cudaGetDeviceCount(int *count)
cudaSetDevice(int device)
cudaGetDevice(int *device)
cudaGetDeviceProperties(cudaDeviceProp *prop, int device)

Multiple threads can share a device

A single thread can manage multiple devices

cudaSetDevice(i) to select current device
cudaMemcpy() for peer-to-peer copies

requires OS and device support

Introduction to CUDA C/C++

What have we learned?

Write and launch CUDA C/C++ kernels
__global__, blockIdx.x, threadIdx.x, <<<>>>
Manage GPU memory
cudaMalloc(), cudaMemcpy(), cudaFree()
Manage communication and synchronization
__shared__, __syncthreads()
cudaMemcpy() vs cudaMemcpyAsync(), cudaDeviceSynchronize()
Compute Capability

The compute capability of a device describes its architecture, e.g.

Number of registers
Sizes of memories
Features & capabilities

Compute Selected Features Tesla models

Capability (see CUDA C Programming Guide for complete list)
1.0 Fundamental CUDA support 870
1.3 Double precision, improved memory accesses, atomics 10-series
2.0 Caches, fused multiply-add, 3D grids, surfaces, ECC, P2P, 20-series
concurrent kernels/copies, function pointers, recursion, atomics
3.0 More blocks, more registers, __shfl, single precision K10
3.5 Dynamic Parallelism, Hypre-Q, double precision, architectural K20X
improvements
Questions?