[mpi3-coll] Comments on nonblocking collectives section

[Christian Siebert]

Torsten Hoefler wrote:
>> p 65, 5.13: The example is good but the current text is bad. It is  
>> simply not allowed to call NBC in a different order. If a certain  
>> implementation runs into a deadlock does not matter. This would even be  
>> on of the better scenarios (i.e. an easy-to-noticeable error). Other  
>> implementations could complete both bcasts (because it thinks they  
>> match) but provide the wrong data (i.e. the data from the other bcast or  
>> even a mixture?) - which is a much harder failure to detect.
> which example are you referring to? Only Ex 5.24 is on this page and
> doesn't use NBC (and the phrasing "deadlock" is used correctly there.
ah, yes - sorry it's ok then (this was the first example directly after 
the description of all nonblocking collectives, so somehow I was 
thinking about Ibcast)

>> p 70, example 5.31: To me this example is not "per se" illegal. Both  
>> operations simply don't match - that's fine. However, it is possible to  
>> extent the example so that the final program is still a valid MPI  
>> program. Maybe just add sth. like "in this form" or "without additional  
>> collectives that match".
> no, it's not possible to make this correct if both ranks call it at the
> same time. Remember, blocking and nonblocking colls have the same
> matching "namespace".
Just add "if (0==rank) MPI_Alltoall(...)" before the switch
and add "if (1==rank) MPI_Ialltoall(...)" after the switch statement to 
make this a correct program.

BTW: remove the "int"s before the function calls! ;-)

Thanks,
    Christian