Storeback Variables

#pragma MP taskloop storeback (list_of_storeback_variables) specifies all the variables to be treated as storeback variables.

A storeback variable is one whose value is computed in a loop, and this computed value is then used after the termination of the loop. The last loop iteration values of storeback variables are available for use after the termination of the loop. Such a variable is a good candidate to be declared explicitly via this directive as a storeback variable when the variable is a private variable, whether by explicitly declaring the variable private or by the default scoping rules.

Note that the storeback operation for a storeback variable occurs at the last iteration of the explicitly parallelized loop, regardless of whether or not that iteration updates the value of the storeback variable. In other words the processor that processes the last iteration of a loop may not be the same processor that currently contains the last updated value for a storeback variable. Consider the following example:

#pragma MP taskloop private(x)
#pragma MP taskloop storeback(x)
   for (i=1; i <= n; i++) {
      if (...) {
          x=...
      }
}
   printf ("%d", x);

In the previous example the value of the storeback variable x printed out via the printf() call may not be the same as that printed out by a serial version of the i loop, because in the explicitly parallelized case, the processor that processes the last iteration of the loop (when i==n), which performs the storeback operation for x may not be the same processor that currently contains the last updated value for x. The compiler will attempt to issue a warning message to alert the user of such potential problems.

In an explicitly parallelized loop, variables referenced as arrays are not treated as storeback variables. Hence it is important to include them in the list_of_storeback_variables if such storeback operation is desired (for example, if the variables referenced as arrays have been declared as private variables).