
=head1 NAME

MCE - Many-Core Engine for Perl providing parallel processing capabilities

=head1 VERSION

This document describes MCE version 1.608

=head1 DESCRIPTION

Many-Core Engine (MCE) for Perl helps enable a new level of performance by
maximizing all available cores. MCE spawns a pool of workers and therefore
does not fork a new process per each element of data. Instead, MCE follows
a bank queuing model. Imagine the line being the data and bank-tellers the
parallel workers. MCE enhances that model by adding the ability to chunk
the next n elements from the input stream to the next available worker.

Input data is optional in MCE. Thus, input data is not required to run MCE.

=head1 CORE MODULES

Three modules make up the core engine for MCE.

=over 3

=item L<MCE::Core|MCE::Core>

Provides the Core API for Many-Core Engine.

=item L<MCE::Signal|MCE::Signal>

Temporary directory creation/cleanup and signal handling.

=item L<MCE::Util|MCE::Util>

Utility functions for Many-Core Engine.

=back

=head1 MCE EXTRAS

There are 3 add-on modules.

=over 3

=item L<MCE::Mutex|MCE::Mutex>

Provides a simple semaphore implementation supporting threads and processes.

=item L<MCE::Queue|MCE::Queue>

Provides a hybrid queuing implementation for MCE supporting normal queues and
priority queues from a single module. MCE::Queue exchanges data via the core
engine to enable queueing to work for both children (spawned from fork) and
threads.

=item L<MCE::Relay|MCE::Relay>

Enables workers to receive and pass on information orderly with zero
involvement by the manager process while running.

=back

=head1 MCE MODELS

The models take Many-Core Engine to a new level for ease of use. Two options
(chunk_size and max_workers) are configured automatically as well as spawning
and shutdown.

=over 3

=item L<MCE::Loop|MCE::Loop>

Provides a parallel loop utilizing MCE for building creative loops.

=item L<MCE::Flow|MCE::Flow>

A parallel flow model for building creative applications. This makes use of
user_tasks in MCE. The author has full control when utilizing this model.
MCE::Flow is similar to MCE::Loop, but allows for multiple code blocks to
run in parallel with a slight change to syntax.

=item L<MCE::Grep|MCE::Grep>

Provides a parallel grep implementation similar to the native grep function.

=item L<MCE::Map|MCE::Map>

Provides a parallel map model similar to the native map function.

=item L<MCE::Step|MCE::Step>

Provides a parallel step implementation utilizing MCE::Queue between user
tasks. MCE::Step is a spin off from MCE::Flow with a touch of MCE::Stream.
This model, introduced in 1.506, allows one to pass data from one sub-task
into the next transparently.

=item L<MCE::Stream|MCE::Stream>

Provides an efficient parallel implementation for chaining multiple maps
and greps together through user_tasks and MCE::Queue. Like with MCE::Flow,
MCE::Stream can run multiple code blocks in parallel with a slight change
to syntax from MCE::Map and MCE::Grep.

=back

=head1 MISCELLANEOUS

Miscellaneous additions included with the distribution.

=over 3

=item L<MCE::Candy|MCE::Candy>

Provides a collection of sugar methods and output iterators for preserving
output order.

=item L<MCE::Examples|MCE::Examples>

A placeholder for the examples included with the distribution. Describes
various demonstrations for MCE including a Monte Carlo simulation.

=item L<MCE::Subs|MCE::Subs>

Exports functions mapped directly to MCE methods; e.g. mce_wid. The module
allows 3 options; :manager, :worker, and :getter.

=back

=head1 REQUIREMENTS

Perl 5.8.0 or later. PDL::IO::Storable is required in scripts running PDL.

=head1 SOURCE

The source is hosted at L<http://code.google.com/p/many-core-engine-perl/>

=head1 AUTHOR

Mario E. Roy, S<E<lt>marioeroy AT gmail DOT comE<gt>>

=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2012-2015 by Mario E. Roy

MCE is released under the same license as Perl.

See L<http://dev.perl.org/licenses/> for more information.

=cut

