Dfa-G: A Unified Programming Model For Vertex-Centric Parallel Graph Processing

Many systems have been built for vertex-centric parallel graph processing. Based on the Bulk Synchronous Parallel (BSP) model, they execute user-defined operations at vertices iteratively and exchange information between vertices by messages. Even though the native BSP systems (e.g. Pregel and Giraph) execute the operations on vertices synchronously within an iteration, many other platforms (e.g. Grace, Blogel and GraphHP) have proposed asynchronous execution for improved efficiency. However, they also bring about an undesirable side effect: a program designed for synchronous platforms may not run properly on asynchronous platforms. In this demo, we present DFA-G (Deterministic Finite Automaton for Graph processing), a unified programming model for vertex-centric parallel graph processing. Built on DFA, DFA-G expresses the computation at a vertex as a process of message-driven state transition. A program modeled after DFA-G can run properly on both synchronous and asynchronous platforms. We demonstrate how to build DFA-G models using a graphical user interface and also how to automatically translate them into BSP programs.