Stata新命令-parallel：无需更新硬件的平行计算

发布时间：2020-10-07 阅读 2843
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Source: Github - gvegayon/parallel

用途： 在 Booststrap, 蒙特卡洛模拟分析等耗时计算中，速度尤为重要。对于没钱买大型计算机的我等屌丝而言，parallel 命令提供了一种省钱但却实用的处理方式。

PARALLEL: Stata module for parallel computing

Parallel lets you run Stata faster, sometimes faster than MP itself. By organizing your job in several Stata instances, parallel allows you to work with out-of-the-box parallel computing. Using the the parallel prefix, you can get faster simulations, bootstrapping, reshaping big data, etc. without having to know a thing about parallel computing. With no need of having Stata/MP installed on your computer, parallel has showed to dramatically speedup computations up to two, four, or more times depending on how many processors your computer has.

See also the HTML version of the program help file.

Stata 2017 conference presentation: https://github.com/gvegayon/parallel/blob/master/talks/20170727_stata_conference/20170727_stata_conference_handout.pdf

SSC at Boston College: http://ideas.repec.org/c/boc/bocode/s457527.html (though the SSC version is a bit out-of-date, see below)

  1. Installation
  2. Minimal examples
  3. Authors

Installation

If you have a previous installation of parallel installed from a different source (SSC, specific folder, specific URL) you should uninstall that first. Once installed it is suggested to restart Stata.

SSC

For accessing SSC version of parallel

. ssc install parallel, replace
. mata mata mlib index

Development Version (Latest/Master)

For accessing the latest development version of parallel (from here) using Stata version >=13

. net install parallel, from(https://raw.github.com/gvegayon/parallel/master/) replace
. mata mata mlib index

For Stata version <13, download as zip, unzip, and then replace the above net install with

. net install parallel, from(full_local_path_to_files) replace

Development Version (Other Releases)

Access other development releases via the Releases Page. You can use the release tag to install over the internet. For example,

. net install parallel, from(https://raw.github.com/gvegayon/parallel/v1.15.8.19/) replace
. mata mata mlib index

Or you can download the release and install locally (for Stata <13).

Minimal examples

The following minimal examples have been written to introduce how to use the module. Please notice that the only examples actually designed to show potential speed gains are parfor and bootstrap.

The examples have been executed on a Dell Vostro 3300 notebook running Ubuntu 14.04 with an Intel Core i5 CPU M 560 (2 physical cores) with 8Gb of RAM, using Stata/IC 12.1 for Unix (Linux 64-bit x86-64).

For more examples and details please refer to the module's help file or the wiki Gallery page.

Simple parallelization of egen

When conducted over groups, parallelizing egen can be useful. In the following example we show how to use parallel with by: egen.

. parallel setclusters 2, f
N Clusters: 2
Stata dir:  /usr/local/stata13/stata

. sysuse auto
(1978 Automobile Data)

. parallel, by(foreign): egen maxp = max(price)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parallel Computing with Stata
Clusters   : 2
pll_id     : m61jt2abc1
Running at : /home/vegayon/Dropbox/repos/parallel
Randtype   : datetime

Waiting for the clusters to finish...
cluster 0001 has exited without error...
cluster 0002 has exited without error...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter -parallel printlog #- to checkout logfiles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

. tab maxp

       maxp |      Freq.     Percent        Cum.
------------+-----------------------------------
      12990 |         22       29.73       29.73
      15906 |         52       70.27      100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
      Total |         74      100.00

Which is the ``parallel'' way to do:

. sysuse auto
(1978 Automobile Data)

. bysort foreign: egen maxp = max(price)

. tab maxp

       maxp |      Freq.     Percent        Cum.
------------+-----------------------------------
      12990 |         22       29.73       29.73
      15906 |         52       70.27      100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
      Total |         74      100.00

Bootstrapping

In this example we'll evaluate a regression model using bootstrapping which, together with simulations, is one of the best ways to use parallel

. sysuse auto, clear
(1978 Automobile Data)

. parallel setclusters 4, f
N Clusters: 4
Stata dir:  /usr/local/stata13/stata

. timer on 1

. parallel bs, reps(5000): reg price c.weig##c.weigh foreign rep
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parallel Computing with Stata
Clusters   : 4
pll_id     : m61jt2abc1
Running at : /home/vegayon/Dropbox/repos/parallel
Randtype   : datetime

Waiting for the clusters to finish...
cluster 0001 has exited without error...
cluster 0002 has exited without error...
cluster 0003 has exited without error...
cluster 0004 has exited without error...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter -parallel printlog #- to checkout logfiles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

parallel bootstrapping                          Number of obs      =        69
                                                Replications       =      5000

      command:  regress price c.weig##c.weigh foreign rep

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
             |   Observed   Bootstrap                         Normal-based
             |      Coef.   Std. Err.      z    P>|z|     [95% Conf. Interval]
-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------
      weight |  -4.317581   3.033419    -1.42   0.155    -10.26297    1.627811
             |
    c.weight#|
    c.weight |   .0012192   .0004827     2.53   0.012     .0002732    .0021653
             |
     foreign |   3155.969   890.4385     3.54   0.000     1410.742    4901.197
       rep78 |  -30.11387   327.7725    -0.09   0.927    -672.5361    612.3084
       _cons |   6415.187   5047.099     1.27   0.204    -3476.945    16307.32
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

. timer off 1

. timer list
   1:     10.59 /        1 =      10.5930
  97:      0.07 /        2 =       0.0340
  98:      0.00 /        1 =       0.0030
  99:     10.52 /        1 =      10.5190

Which is the ``parallel way'' to do:

. sysuse auto, clear
(1978 Automobile Data)

. timer on 2

. bs, reps(5000) nodots: reg price c.weig##c.weigh foreign rep

Linear regression                               Number of obs      =        69
                                                Replications       =      5000
                                                Wald chi2(4)       =     51.13
                                                Prob > chi2        =    0.0000
                                                R-squared          =    0.5622
                                                Adj R-squared      =    0.5348
                                                Root MSE           = 1986.4039

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
             |   Observed   Bootstrap                         Normal-based
       price |      Coef.   Std. Err.      z    P>|z|     [95% Conf. Interval]
-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------
      weight |  -4.317581   3.110807    -1.39   0.165    -10.41465    1.779489
             |
    c.weight#|
    c.weight |   .0012192   .0004951     2.46   0.014     .0002489    .0021896
             |
     foreign |   3155.969   863.9629     3.65   0.000     1462.633    4849.305
       rep78 |  -30.11387   323.6419    -0.09   0.926    -664.4404    604.2127
       _cons |   6415.187    5162.58     1.24   0.214    -3703.285    16533.66
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

. timer off 2

. timer list
   2:     17.78 /        1 =      17.7810

Simulation

From the simulate stata command:

. parallel setclusters 2, f
N Clusters: 2
Stata dir:  /usr/local/stata13/stata

. program define lnsim, rclass
  1\.   version 12.1
  2\.   syntax [, obs(integer 1) mu(real 0) sigma(real 1) ]
  3\.   drop _all
  4\.   set obs `obs'
  5\.   tempvar z
  6\.   gen `z' = exp(rnormal(`mu',`sigma'))
  7\.   summarize `z'
  8\.   return scalar mean = r(mean)
  9\.   return scalar Var  = r(Var)
 10\. end

. parallel sim, expr(mean=r(mean) var=r(Var)) reps(10000): lnsim, obs(100)
Warning: No data loaded.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
Exporting the following program(s): lnsim

lnsim, rclass:
  1\.   version 12.1
  2\.   syntax [, obs(integer 1) mu(real 0) sigma(real 1) ]
  3\.   drop _all
  4\.   set obs `obs'
  5\.   tempvar z
  6\.   gen `z' = exp(rnormal(`mu',`sigma'))
  7\.   summarize `z'
  8\.   return scalar mean = r(mean)
  9\.   return scalar Var = r(Var)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parallel Computing with Stata
Clusters   : 2
pll_id     : 93mwp9vps1
Running at : /home/vegayon/Dropbox/repos/parallel
Randtype   : datetime

Waiting for the clusters to finish...
cluster 0001 has exited without error...
cluster 0002 has exited without error...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter -parallel printlog #- to checkout logfiles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

. 
. summ

    Variable |       Obs        Mean    Std. Dev.       Min        Max
-------------+--------------------------------------------------------
        mean |     10000    1.648843    .2165041   1.021977   2.907977
         var |     10000    4.650656    4.218584   .6159253   133.9232

which is the parallel way to do

. program define lnsim, rclass
  1\.   version 12.1
  2\.   syntax [, obs(integer 1) mu(real 0) sigma(real 1) ]
  3\.   drop _all
  4\.   set obs `obs'
  5\.   tempvar z
  6\.   gen `z' = exp(rnormal(`mu',`sigma'))
  7\.   summarize `z'
  8\.   return scalar mean = r(mean)
  9\.   return scalar Var  = r(Var)
 10\. end

. simulate mean=r(mean) var=r(Var), reps(10000) nodots: lnsim, obs(100)

      command:  lnsim, obs(100)
         mean:  r(mean)
          var:  r(V. 
. summ

    Variable |       Obs        Mean    Std. Dev.       Min        Max
-------------+--------------------------------------------------------
        mean |     10000    1.644006    .2133008   1.061809   2.991108
         var |     10000    4.568202    3.984818   .6348574    110.893

parfor

In this example we create a short program (parfor) which is intended to work as a parfor program, this is, looping through 1/N in a parallel fashion

. // Cleaning working space
. clear all

. timer clear

. 
. // Set up
. set seed 123

. local n = 5e6

. set obs `n'
obs was 0, now 5000000

. gen x = runiform()

. gen y_pll = .
(5000000 missing values generated)

. clonevar y_ser = y_pll
(5000000 missing values generated)

. 
. // Loop replacement function
. prog def parfor
  1\.         args var
  2\.         forval i=1/`=_N' {
  3\.                 qui replace `var' = sqrt(x) in `i'
  4\.         }
  5\. end

. 
. // Running the algorithm in parallel fashion
. timer on 1

. parallel setclusters 4, f
N Clusters: 4
Stata dir:  /usr/local/stata13/stata

. parallel, prog(parfor): parfor y_pll
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
Exporting the following program(s): parfor

parfor:
  1\.         args var
  2\.         forval i=1/`=_N' {
  3\.                 qui replace `var' = sqrt(x) in `i'
  4\.         }
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parallel Computing with Stata
Clusters   : 4
pll_id     : wrusvgqb91
Running at : /home/vegayon/Dropbox/repos/parallel
Randtype   : datetime

Waiting for the clusters to finish...
cluster 0001 has exited without error...
cluster 0002 has exited without error...
cluster 0003 has exited without error...
cluster 0004 has exited without error...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter -parallel printlog #- to checkout logfiles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

. timer off 1

. 
. // Running the algorithm in a serial way
. timer on 2

. parfor y_ser

. timer off 2

. 
. // Is there any difference?
. list in 1/10

     +--------------------------------+
     |        x      y_pll      y_ser |
     |--------------------------------|
  1\. |  .912044   .9550099   .9550099 |
  2\. | .0075452   .0868631   .0868631 |
  3\. | .2808588   .5299612   .5299612 |
  4\. | .4602787   .6784384   .6784384 |
  5\. | .5601059   .7484022   .7484022 |
     |--------------------------------|
  6\. | .6731906    .820482    .820482 |
  7\. | .6177611   .7859778   .7859778 |
  8\. | .8656877   .9304234   .9304234 |
  9\. | 9.57e-06   .0030943   .0030943 |
 10\. | .4090917   .6396028   .6396028 |
     +--------------------------------+

. gen diff = y_pll != y_ser

. tab diff

       diff |      Freq.     Percent        Cum.
------------+-----------------------------------
          0 |  5,000,000      100.00      100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
      Total |  5,000,000      100.00

. 
. // Comparing time
. timer list
   1:      8.93 /        1 =       8.9260
   2:     16.06 /        1 =      16.0580
  97:      0.42 /        1 =       0.4240
  98:      0.32 /        1 =       0.3150
  99:      8.17 /        1 =       8.1740

. di "Parallel is `=round(r(t2)/r(t1),.1)' times faster"
Parallel is 1.8 times faster

.

Authors

George G. Vega [aut,cre] g.vegayon %at% gmail

Brian Quistorff [aut] Brian.Quistorff %at% microsoft

 

 

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