All Athapascan-0 standard communication (non-formatted) is based on data types . Its interface allows to send and receive all the C language scalar and array types. The Athapascan-0 Formats are one attempt to give more flexibility to Athapascan-0 programming, extending its data formatting and adding new functions to data transfer. Prior to use any function of this library, the program must call the function a0UseFormats().
In order to enable the user to program using shared memory instead of message passing, Athapascan-0 Formats introduces some remote memory access functions. They allow the computing nodes to create typed shared areas and to access these areas remotely.
Athapascan-0 Formats provides also a set of functions to manipulate streams of communication. They allow the Athapascan-0 programs to establish a connection between two nodes and communicate using buffered communication primitives.
This manual describes how to use the extended formats, the remote memory accesses and the streams of communication. The last part contains the Reference Manual of the functions that implement it.