This special issue will focus on methods and techniques used to design and implement tools for the development of parallel programs. Sophisticated tools are of high importance for the development and application of parallel programs. Our main focus here is on tools that support the late phases of software development, when the program is already functional. Examples for interactive tools are deguggers, performance analyzers and data and program flow visualizers.
Automatic tools are load balancers and resource management systems.
Although tools differ in functionality they are based on similar internal components, so called monitoring systems. Monitoring systems act as middleware components for tools and may be able to support more than one tool at the time. Much research has been done in this field in the last decade but there is not yet a real integration of results into a common method of tool design and development. The special issue will try to present an overview of the current state of the art in the field and try to bridge the gap between tool design and operating system issues. The length of the submitted papers should be between 15 and 25 single space pages.