Sliced Variables
A sliced variable is one whose value can be broken up into segments, or slices, which are then operated on separately by different workers. Each iteration of the loop works on a different slice of the array. Using sliced variables can reduce communication between the client and workers.
In this example, the workers apply f
to the elements of
A
separately.
parfor i = 1:length(A) B(i) = f(A(i)); end
Characteristics of a Sliced Variable
If a variable in a parfor
-loop has all the following
characteristics, then the variable is sliced:
Type of First-Level Indexing — The first level of indexing is either parentheses,
()
, or braces,{}
.Fixed Index Listing — Within the first-level parentheses or braces, the list of indices is the same for all occurrences of a given variable.
Form of Indexing — Within the list of indices for the variable, exactly one index involves the loop variable.
Shape of Array — The array maintains a constant shape. In assigning to a sliced variable, the right side of the assignment cannot be
[]
or''
, because these operators attempt to delete elements.
Type of First-Level Indexing
For a sliced variable, the first level of indexing is enclosed in either
parentheses, ()
, or braces, {}
.
Here are the forms for the first level of indexing for arrays that are sliced and not sliced.
Not Sliced | Sliced |
---|---|
A.x | A(...) |
A.(...) | A{...} |
After the first level, you can use any type of valid MATLAB® indexing in the second and subsequent levels.
The variable A
shown here on the left is not sliced; that
shown on the right is sliced.
A.q{i,12} A{i,12}.q
Fixed Index Listing
Within the first-level indexing of a sliced variable, the list of indices is the same for all occurrences of a given variable.
The variable A
on the left is not sliced because
A
is indexed by i
and
i+1
in different places. In the code on the right,
variable A
is sliced correctly.
Not sliced | Sliced |
---|---|
parfor i = 1:k B(:) = h(A(i), A(i+1)); end |
parfor i = 1:k B(i) = f(A(i)); C(i) = g(A{i}); end |
The example on the right shows occurrences of first-level indexing using both parentheses and braces in the same loop, which is acceptable.
The following example on the left does not slice A
because
the indexing of A
is not the same in all places. The example
on the right slices both A
and B
. The
indexing of A
is not the same as the indexing of
B
. However, the indexing of both A
and
B
are individually consistent.
Not sliced | Sliced |
---|---|
parfor i=1:10 b = A(1,i) + A(2,i) end |
A = [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10; 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100]; B = zeros(1,10); parfor i=1:10 for n=1:2 B(i) = B(i)+A(n,i) end end |
Form of Indexing
Within the first-level of indexing for a sliced variable, exactly one indexing
expression is of the form i
, i+k
,
i-k
, or k+i
. The index
i
is the loop variable and k
is a
scalar integer constant or a simple (non-indexed) broadcast variable. Every
other indexing expression is a positive integer constant, a simple (non-indexed)
broadcast variable, a nested for
-loop index variable,
colon
, a colon expression
involving simple broadcast variables or scalar integer constants, or end
.
With i
as the loop variable, the A
variables shown on the left are not sliced, while the A
variables on the right are sliced.
Not sliced | Sliced |
---|---|
A(i+f(k),j,:,3) % f(k) invalid for slicing A(i,:,s.field1) % s.field1 not simple broadcast var A(i,[20,21,30],end) % array literal not supported Before R2024b: A(i,20:30,end) |
A(i+k,j,:,3)
A(i,:,end)
A(i,:,k)
A(i,20:30,end) (since R2024b) |
You can work around the unsupported indexing expressions by declaring them as broadcast variables. In this example, the code on the left does not work because it directly uses unsupported indexing expressions to index the slice variables. The code on the right provides a workaround by declaring the expressions as broadcast variables before the loop body.
Not Sliced | Sliced |
---|---|
parfor i = 1:n A(i, [false,true,true]) = 7; % not supported B(i, [20,21,30]) = 7; % also not supported end |
b1 = [false,true,true]; b2 = [20,21,30]; parfor i = 1:n A(i,b1) = 7; % works B(i,b2) = 7; % also works end |
When you use other variables along with the loop variable to index an array,
you cannot set these variables inside the loop. In effect, such variables are
constant over the execution of the entire parfor
statement.
You cannot combine the loop variable with itself to form an index
expression.
Shape of Array
A sliced variable must maintain a constant shape. The variable
A
shown here is not sliced:
A(i,:) = [];
A
is not sliced because changing the shape of a sliced
array would violate assumptions governing communication between the client and
workers.
Sliced Input and Output Variables
A sliced variable can be an input variable, an output variable, or both. MATLAB transmits sliced input variables from the client to the workers, and sliced output variables from workers back to the client. If a variable is both input and output, it is transmitted in both directions.
In this parfor
-loop, A
is a sliced input
variable and B
is a sliced output variable.
A = rand(1,10); parfor ii = 1:10 B(ii) = A(ii); end
However, if MATLAB determines that, in each iteration, the sliced variable elements are
set before any use, then MATLAB does not transmit the variable to the workers. In this example, all
elements of A
are set before any use.
parfor ii = 1:n if someCondition A(ii) = 32; else A(ii) = 17; end % loop code that uses A(ii) end
Sliced-output variables can grow dynamically through indexed assignments with
default values inserted at intermediate indices. In this example, you can see that
the default value of 0 has been inserted at several places in
A
.
A = []; parfor idx = 1:10 if rand < 0.5 A(idx) = idx; end end disp(A);
0 2 0 4 5 0 0 8 9 10
Even if a sliced variable is not explicitly referenced as an input, implicit usage
can make it so. In the following example, not all elements of A
are necessarily set inside the parfor
-loop. Therefore the
original values of the array are received, held, and then returned from the
loop.
A = 1:10; parfor ii = 1:10 if rand < 0.5 A(ii) = 0; end end
Under some circumstances, parfor
-loops must assume that a
worker may need all segments of a sliced variable. In this example, it is not
possible to determine which elements of the sliced variable will be read before
execution, so parfor
sends all possible
segments.
A = 1:10; parfor ii=1:11 if ii <= randi([10 11]) A(ii) = A(ii) + 1; end end
Nested for
-Loops with Sliced Variables
When you index a sliced variable with a nested for
-loop
variable, keep these requirements in mind:
The sliced variable must be enclosed within the corresponding
for
-loop.In this example, the code on the left does not work because it indexes the sliced variable
A
outside the nestedfor
-loop that definesj
.Not Sliced Sliced A = zeros(10); parfor i=1:10 for j=1:10 end A(i,j)=1; end
A = zeros(10); parfor i=1:10 for j=1:10 A(i,j) = 1; end end
The range of the
for
-loop variable must be a row vector of positive constant numbers or variables.In this example, the code on the left does not work because it defines the upper limit of the nested
for
-loop with a function call. The code on the right provides a workaround by defining the upper limit in a constant variable outside theparfor
-loop.Not Sliced Sliced A = zeros(10); parfor i=1:10 for j=1:size(A,2) A(i,j)=1; end end
A = zeros(10); L = size(A,2); parfor i=1:10 for j=1:L A(i,j)=1; end end
The
for
-loop variable must not be assigned other than by itsfor
statement.In this example, the code on the left does not work because it reassigns the
for
-loop variable inside thefor
-loop. The code on the right provides a workaround by assigningi
to the temporary variablet
.Not Sliced Sliced A = zeros(10); parfor i=1:10 for j=1:10 if i == j j = i; A(i,j) = j; end end end
A = zeros(10); parfor i=1:10 for j=1:10 if i == j t = i; A(i,j) = t; end end end
Data Type Limitations
Some MATLAB data types do not support being used as sliced input or output variables for a
parfor
loop. To use a variable as a sliced variable, theparfor
implementation must be able to extend the variable using indexing.The following data types are not supported as sliced variables:
dictionary
table
When you use sliced arrays of
handle
objects, MATLAB constructs default elements. For more information, see Create and Initialize Object Arrays.