computer science

GotoBLAS

GotoBLAS is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand GotoBLAS rather than just read about it. In short: In scientific computing, GotoBLAS and GotoBLAS2 are open source implementations of the BLAS (Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms) API with many hand-crafted optimizations for specific processor types. GotoBLAS was developed by Kazushige Goto at the Texas Advanced Computing Center.

Key takeaways

GotoBLAS belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect GotoBLAS to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of GotoBLAS from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In scientific computing, GotoBLAS and GotoBLAS2 are open source implementations of the BLAS (Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms) API with many hand-crafted optimizations for specific processor types. GotoBLAS was developed by Kazushige Goto at the Texas Advanced Computing Center. As of 2003, it was used in seven of the world's ten fastest supercomputers. GotoBLAS remains available, but development ceased with a final version touting optimal performance on Intel's Nehalem architecture (contemporary in 2008). OpenBLAS is an actively maintained fork of GotoBLAS, developed at the Lab of Parallel Software and Computational Science, ISCAS. GotoBLAS was written by Goto during his sabbatical leave from the Japan Patent Office in 2002. It was initially optimized for the Pentium 4 processor and managed to immediately boost the performance of a supercomputer based on that CPU from 1.5 TFLOPS to 2 TFLOPS. As of 2005, the library was available at no cost for noncommercial use. A later open source version was released under the terms of the BSD license. GotoBLAS's matrix-matrix multiplication routine, called GEMM in BLAS terms, is highly tuned for the x86 and AMD64 processor architectures by means of handcrafted assembly code. It follows a similar decomposition into smaller "kernel" routines that other BLAS implementations use, but where earlier implementations streamed data from the L1 processor cache, GotoBLAS uses the L2 cache. The kernel used for GEMM is a routine called GEBP, for "General block-times-panel multiply", which was experimentally found to be "inherently superior" over several other kernels that were considered in the design. Several other BLAS routines are, as is customary in BLAS libraries, implemented in terms of GEMM. As of January 2022, the Texas Advanced Computing Center website states that Goto BLAS in no more maintained and suggests the use of BLIS or MKL.

See also Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra Software (ATLAS) Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with GotoBLAS

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what GotoBLAS claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to GotoBLAS before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about GotoBLAS ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of GotoBLAS

In research: GotoBLAS appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses GotoBLAS in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: GotoBLAS is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Numerical linear algebra, Numerical software, Software using the BSD license, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for GotoBLAS outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study GotoBLAS in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what GotoBLAS means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain GotoBLAS out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is GotoBLAS in simple terms?

Why does GotoBLAS matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study GotoBLAS?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on GotoBLAS.