Parallel String Sample Sort

TL;DR

This paper introduces parallel string sample sort, a new algorithm optimized for multi-core shared memory systems, combining best sequential methods with parallel techniques to improve efficiency and reduce branch mispredictions.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel parallel string sample sort algorithm that effectively utilizes memory hierarchy and word-level parallelism, advancing string sorting on modern multi-core architectures.

Findings

Achieves efficient parallel string sorting with reduced branch mispredictions

Integrates parallel variants of multikey quicksort and radix sort

Demonstrates improved performance on multi-core shared memory systems

Abstract

We discuss how string sorting algorithms can be parallelized on modern multi-core shared memory machines. As a synthesis of the best sequential string sorting algorithms and successful parallel sorting algorithms for atomic objects, we propose string sample sort. The algorithm makes effective use of the memory hierarchy, uses additional word level parallelism, and largely avoids branch mispredictions. Additionally, we parallelize variants of multikey quicksort and radix sort that are also useful in certain situations.