My research interests are in performance optimization, dynamic memory allocation, generic and parallel programming, and software systems. I work with Dr. Lawrence Rauchwerger. I will graduate in August and I am looking for a position in Research and Development. If you know of an interesting position please have a look at my resume and drop me a line. For my adventures, please visit my personal website.

Research

Improving locality with dynamic memory allocation - thesis

The goal of my thesis is to improve performance of dynamic C++ applications. We improve an application's data locality through careful consideration when allocating memory. We developed three locality improving memory allocators that reduce the execution time of seven large and real-world applications by an average of 7% when compared to Doug Lea's allocator, one of the best available memory allocators, and by an average of 17% when compared to FreeBSD's allocator. Any C++ application that uses dynamic memory allocation benefits from this approach. (... more)

STAPL - C++ Standard Template Adaptive Parallel Library

STAPL (the Standard Template Adaptive Parallel Library) is a framework for developing parallel programs in C++. It is designed to work on both shared and distributed memory parallel computers. Its core is a library of ISO Standard C++ components with interfaces similar to the ISO C++ STL. STAPL's goal is to allow the user to work at a high level of abstraction and hide many details specific to parallel programming, to allow a high degree of productivity, portability, and performance.(... more)

ROSE - C++ compiler

During the 2004 internship with LLNL, I worked with Dan Quinlan in a C++ compiler, in which I designed and implemented an outlining pass and a generic instrumentation tool. The tool instruments a program with any profiling information, such as Tau's and PAPI's, based on simple rules written in a mini-language I designed for manipulating program representation. (... more)

Teaching

I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to lecture "Compiler Design" and assist "Programming in C" and "System and Analysis and Design", all undegraduate courses. (... more )

Publications

Balancing Allocation Speed, Locality and Fragmentation in a Locality Improving Allocator, Alin Jula, Lawrence Rauchwerger, Technical Report, TR08-002, Department of Computer Science, Texas A&M University, Feb 2008.
Technical Report(pdf, abstract)

How to Focus on Memory Allocation Strategies, Alin Jula, Lawrence Rauchwerger, Technical Report, TR07-003, Department of Computer Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3112, Jun 2007.
Technical Report(pdf, abstract)

Custom Memory Allocation for Free: Improving Data Locality with Container-Centric Memory Allocation, Alin Jula, Lawrence Rauchwerger, In Wkshp. on Lang. and Comp. for Par. Comp. (LCPC), New Orleans, Louisiana, Nov 2006.
Proceedings(pdf, abstract)

Defero - a Semantic Driven Memory Allocator, Alin Jula, Lawrence Rauchwerger, Technical Report, TR06-001, Department of Computer Science, Texas A&M University, Parasol Lab, Department of Computer Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3112, Jan 2006.
Technical Report(abstract)

SmartApps: An Application Centric Approach to High Performance Computing: Compiler-Assisted Software and Hardware Support for Reduction Operations, Francis Dang, Maria Jesus Garzaran, Milos Prvulovic, Ye Zhang, Alin Jula, Hao Yu, Nancy Amato, Lawrence Rauchwerger, Josep Torrellas, In Proc. Next Generation Software Workshop, pp. 10, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Apr 2002.
Proceedings(ps, pdf, abstract)

Architectural Support for Parallel Reductions in Scalable Shared-Memory Multiprocessors, Maria Jesus Garzaran, Milos Prvulovic, Ye Zhang, Alin Jula, Hao Yu, Lawrence Rauchwerger, Josep Torrellas, In Proc. IEEE Int.Conf. on Parallel Architectures and Compilation Techniques (PACT), Barcelona, Spain, Sep 2001.
Proceedings(ps, pdf, abstract)

Architectural Support for Parallel Reductions in Scalable Shared-Memory Multiprocessors, Maria Jesus Garzaran, Alin Jula, Milos Prvulovic, Hao Yu, Lawrence Rauchwerger, Josep Torrellas, In Proc. IEEE Int.Conf. on Parallel Architectures and Compilation Techniques (PACT), Sep 2001.
Proceedings(ps, pdf)

STAPL: An Adaptive, Generic Parallel C++ Library, Ping An, Alin Jula, Silvius Rus, Steven Saunders, Tim Smith, Gabriel Tanase, Nathan Thomas, Nancy Amato, Lawrence Rauchwerger, In Wkshp. on Lang. and Comp. for Par. Comp. (LCPC), pp. 193-208, Cumberland Falls, Kentucky, Aug 2001.
Proceedings(ps, pdf, abstract)

STAPL: A Standard Template Adaptive Parallel C++ Library, Ping An, Alin Jula, Silvius Rus, Steven Saunders, Tim Smith, Gabriel Tanase, Nathan Thomas, Nancy Amato, Lawrence Rauchwerger, In Int. Wkshp on Adv. Compiler Technology for High Perf. and Embedded Processors, pp. 10, Bucharest, Romania, Jul 2001.
Proceedings(ps, pdf, abstract)