Re: [Boost-users] [Boost.MPI] question about serializing customobject

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] [Boost.MPI] question about serializing customobject
From: Matthias Troyer (troyer_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-08-26 16:36:51

On 26 Aug 2010, at 22:35, Robert Ramey wrote:

> > Change the "would" into "is": it is possible to mix Boost.MPI with
> > Boost.Serialization. Any objext that can be serialized can be sent by
> > Boost.MPI. This was actually the basic idea behind Boost.MPI, to use
> > Boost.Serialization to pack and unpack MPI buffers, or to create
> > custom MPI datatypes.    
> On thing that I never understood is why you need MPI data types at all.
> If one is serializing (packing) to a binary array, and sending that, what
> hae MPI data types have to do with it.
>  
> If one were using heterogenious machines, I could understand the
> usage of MPI types. But as I understand it, the MPI serialization presumes
> that the machines are binary compatible. 

No, it does not presume this. 

> So I'm just not seeing this.
>