This work explores fundamental modeling and algorithmic issues arising in the well-established MapReduce framework. First, we formally specify a computational model for MapReduce which captures the functional flavor of the paradigm by allowing for a flexible use of parallelism. Indeed, the model diverges from a traditional processor-centric view by featuring parameters which embody only global and local memory constraints, thus favoring a more data-centric view. Second, we apply the model to the fundamental computation task of matrix multiplication presenting upper and lower bounds for both dense and sparse matrix multiplication, which highlight interesting tradeoffs between space and round complexity. Finally, building on the matrix multiplication results, we derive further space-round tradeoffs on matrix inversion and matching.
Distributed processing frameworks, such as MapReduce, Hadoop, and Spark are popular systems for processing large amounts of data. The design of efficient algorithms in these frameworks is a challenging problem, as the systems both require parallelism---since datasets are so large that multiple machines are necessary---and limit the degree of parallelism---since the number of machines grows sublinearly in the size of the data. Although MapReduce is over a dozen years old~\cite{dean2008mapreduce}, many fundamental problems, such as Matrix Multiplication, 3-SUM, and All Pairs Shortest Paths, lack…
We study fundamental graph problems such as graph connectivity, minimum spanning forest (MSF), and approximate maximum (weight) matching in a distributed setting. In particular, we focus on the Adaptive Massively Parallel Computation (AMPC) model, which is a theoretical model that captures MapReduce-like computation augmented with a distributed hash table. We show the first AMPC algorithms for all of the studied problems that run in a constant number of rounds and use only $O(n^ε)$ space per machine, where $0 < ε< 1$. Our results improve both upon the previous results in the AMPC model, as wel…
Center-based clustering is a fundamental primitive for data analysis and becomes very challenging for large datasets. In this paper, we focus on the popular $k$-median and $k$-means variants which, given a set $P$ of points from a metric space and a parameter $k<|P|$, require to identify a set $S$ of $k$ centers minimizing, respectively, the sum of the distances and of the squared distances of all points in $P$ from their closest centers. Our specific focus is on general metric spaces, for which it is reasonable to require that the centers belong to the input set (i.e., $S \subseteq P$). We pr…
Center-based clustering is a fundamental primitive for data analysis and becomes very challenging for large datasets. In this paper, we focus on the popular $k$-center variant which, given a set $S$ of points from some metric space and a parameter $k<|S|$, requires to identify a subset of $k$ centers in $S$ minimizing the maximum distance of any point of $S$ from its closest center. A more general formulation, introduced to deal with noisy datasets, features a further parameter $z$ and allows up to $z$ points of $S$ (outliers) to be disregarded when computing the maximum distance from the cent…
The Massive Parallel Computation (MPC) model is a theoretical framework for popular parallel and distributed platforms such as MapReduce, Hadoop, or Spark. We consider the task of computing a large matching or small vertex cover in this model when the space per machine is $n^δ$ for $δ\in (0,1)$, where $n$ is the number of vertices in the input graph. A direct simulation of classic PRAM and distributed algorithms from the 1980s results in algorithms that require at least a logarithmic number of MPC rounds. We give the first algorithm that breaks this logarithmic barrier and runs in $\tilde O(\s…
We introduce the Adaptive Massively Parallel Computation (AMPC) model, which is an extension of the Massively Parallel Computation (MPC) model. At a high level, the AMPC model strengthens the MPC model by storing all messages sent within a round in a distributed data store. In the following round, all machines are provided with random read access to the data store, subject to the same constraints on the total amount of communication as in the MPC model. Our model is inspired by the previous empirical studies of distributed graph algorithms using MapReduce and a distributed hash table service. …
We consider the problem of finding a maximal independent set (MIS) in the shared blackboard communication model with vertex-partitioned inputs. There are $n$ players corresponding to vertices of an undirected graph, and each player sees the edges incident on its vertex -- this way, each edge is known by both its endpoints and is thus shared by two players. The players communicate in simultaneous rounds by posting their messages on a shared blackboard visible to all players, with the goal of computing an MIS of the graph. While the MIS problem is well studied in other distributed models, and wh…
We study the maximum $k$-set coverage problem in the following distributed setting. A collection of sets $S_1,\ldots,S_m$ over a universe $[n]$ is partitioned across $p$ machines and the goal is to find $k$ sets whose union covers the most number of elements. The computation proceeds in synchronous rounds. In each round, all machines simultaneously send a message to a central coordinator who then communicates back to all machines a summary to guide the computation for the next round. At the end, the coordinator outputs the answer. The main measures of efficiency in this setting are the approxi…
For over a decade now we have been witnessing the success of {\em massive parallel computation} (MPC) frameworks, such as MapReduce, Hadoop, Dryad, or Spark. One of the reasons for their success is the fact that these frameworks are able to accurately capture the nature of large-scale computation. In particular, compared to the classic distributed algorithms or PRAM models, these frameworks allow for much more local computation. The fundamental question that arises in this context is though: can we leverage this additional power to obtain even faster parallel algorithms? A prominent example he…
$ $We study the $d$-Uniform Hypergraph Matching ($d$-UHM) problem: given an $n$-vertex hypergraph $G$ where every hyperedge is of size $d$, find a maximum cardinality set of disjoint hyperedges. For $d\geq3$, the problem of finding the maximum matching is NP-complete, and was one of Karp's 21 $\mathcal{NP}$-complete problems. In this paper we are interested in the problem of finding matchings in hypergraphs in the massively parallel computation (MPC) model that is a common abstraction of MapReduce-style computation. In this model, we present the first three parallel algorithms for $d$-Uniform …
As massive graphs become more prevalent, there is a rapidly growing need for scalable algorithms that solve classical graph problems, such as maximum matching and minimum vertex cover, on large datasets. For massive inputs, several different computational models have been introduced, including the streaming model, the distributed communication model, and the massively parallel computation (MPC) model that is a common abstraction of MapReduce-style computation. In each model, algorithms are analyzed in terms of resources such as space used or rounds of communication needed, in addition to the m…
The success of modern parallel paradigms such as MapReduce, Hadoop, or Spark, has attracted a significant attention to the Massively Parallel Computation (MPC) model over the past few years, especially on graph problems. In this work, we consider symmetry breaking problems of maximal independent set (MIS) and maximal matching (MM), which are among the most intensively studied problems in distributed/parallel computing, in MPC. These problems are known to admit efficient MPC algorithms if the space per machine is near-linear in $n$, the number of vertices in the graph. This space requirement ho…
The \emph{$ p$-processor cup game} is a classic and widely studied scheduling problem that captures the setting in which a $p$-processor machine must assign tasks to processors over time in order to ensure that no individual task ever falls too far behind. The problem is formalized as a multi-round game in which two players, a filler (who assigns work to tasks) and an emptier (who schedules tasks) compete. The emptier's goal is to minimize backlog, which is the maximum amount of outstanding work for any task. Recently, Kuszmaul and Westover (ITCS, 2021) proposed the \emph{variable-processor cu…
Motivated by the increasing need to understand the distributed algorithmic foundations of large-scale graph computations, we study some fundamental graph problems in a message-passing model for distributed computing where $k \geq 2$ machines jointly perform computations on graphs with $n$ nodes (typically, $n \gg k$). The input graph is assumed to be initially randomly partitioned among the $k$ machines, a common implementation in many real-world systems. Communication is point-to-point, and the goal is to minimize the number of communication {\em rounds} of the computation. Our main contribut…
The most widely used internal measure for clustering evaluation is the silhouette coefficient, whose naive computation requires a quadratic number of distance calculations, which is clearly unfeasible for massive datasets. Surprisingly, there are no known general methods to efficiently approximate the silhouette coefficient of a clustering with rigorously provable high accuracy. In this paper, we present the first scalable algorithm to compute such a rigorous approximation for the evaluation of clusterings based on any metric distances. Our algorithm hinges on a Probability Proportional to Siz…
