c - OpenMP : Parallel QuickSort

Question

I try to use OpenMP to parallelize QuickSort in partition part and QuickSort part. My C code is as follows:

#include "stdlib.h"
#include "stdio.h"
#include "omp.h"

// parallel partition
int ParPartition(int *a, int p, int r) {
    int b[r-p];
    int key = *(a+r); // use the last element in the array as the pivot
    int lt[r-p]; // mark 1 at the position where its element is smaller than the key, else 0
    int gt[r-p]; // mark 1 at the position where its element is bigger than the key, else 0
    int cnt_lt = 0; // count 1 in the lt array
    int cnt_gt = 0; // count 1 in the gt array
    int j=p;
    int k = 0; // the position of the pivot
    // deal with gt and lt array
    #pragma omp parallel for
    for ( j=p; j<r; ++j) {
        b[j-p] = *(a+j);
        if (*(a+j) < key) {
            lt[j-p] = 1;
            gt[j-p] = 0;
        } else {
            lt[j-p] = 0;
            gt[j-p] = 1;
        }
    }
    // calculate the new position of the elements
    for ( j=0; j<(r-p); ++j) {
        if (lt[j]) {
            ++cnt_lt;
            lt[j] = cnt_lt;
        } else
            lt[j] = cnt_lt;
        if (gt[j]) {
            ++cnt_gt;
            gt[j] = cnt_gt;
        } else
            gt[j] = cnt_gt;
    }
    // move the pivot
    k = lt[r-p-1];
    *(a+p+k) = key;
    // move elements to their new positon
    #pragma omp parallel for 
    for ( j=p; j<r; ++j) {
        if (b[j-p] < key)
            *(a+p+lt[j-p]-1) = b[j-p];
        else if (b[j-p] > key)
            *(a+k+gt[j-p]) = b[j-p];
    }
    return (k+p);
}

void ParQuickSort(int *a, int p, int r) {
    int q;
    if (p<r) {
        q = ParPartition(a, p, r);
        #pragma omp parallel sections
        {
        #pragma omp section
        ParQuickSort(a, p, q-1);
        #pragma omp section
        ParQuickSort(a, q+1, r);
        }
    }
}

int main() {
    int a[10] = {5, 3, 8, 4, 0, 9, 2, 1, 7, 6};
    ParQuickSort(a, 0, 9);
    int i=0;
    for (; i!=10; ++i)
        printf("%d", a[i]);
    printf("
");
    return 0;
}

For the example in the main function, the sorting result is:

0   9   9   2   2   2   6   7   7   7

I used gdb to debug. In the early recursion, all went well. But in some recursions, it suddenly messed up to begin duplicate elements. Then generate the above result.

Can someone help me figure out where the problem is?

Answer 1

I feel sorry for my first comment.It does not matter with your problem.I have not found the true problem of your question(Maybe your move element has the problem).According to your opinion, I wrote a similar program, it works fine.(I am also new on OpenMP).

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>


int partition(int * a, int p, int r)
{
    int lt[r-p];
    int gt[r-p];
    int i;
    int j;
    int key = a[r];
    int lt_n = 0;
    int gt_n = 0;

#pragma omp parallel for
    for(i = p; i < r; i++){
        if(a[i] < a[r]){
            lt[lt_n++] = a[i];
        }else{
            gt[gt_n++] = a[i];
        }   
    }   

    for(i = 0; i < lt_n; i++){
        a[p + i] = lt[i];
    }   

    a[p + lt_n] = key;

    for(j = 0; j < gt_n; j++){
        a[p + lt_n + j + 1] = gt[j];
    }   

    return p + lt_n;
}

void quicksort(int * a, int p, int r)
{
    int div;

    if(p < r){ 
        div = partition(a, p, r); 
#pragma omp parallel sections
        {   
#pragma omp section
            quicksort(a, p, div - 1); 
#pragma omp section
            quicksort(a, div + 1, r); 

        }
    }
}

int main(void)
{
    int a[10] = {5, 3, 8, 4, 0, 9, 2, 1, 7, 6};
    int i;

    quicksort(a, 0, 9);

    for(i = 0;i < 10; i++){
        printf("%d", a[i]);
    }
    printf("
");
    return 0;
}