Parallel Betweenness

Example of parallel implementation of betweenness centrality using the multiprocessing module from Python Standard Library.

The function betweenness centrality accepts a bunch of nodes and computes the contribution of those nodes to the betweenness centrality of the whole network. Here we divide the network in chunks of nodes and we compute their contribution to the betweenness centrality of the whole network.

Out:

Computing betweenness centrality for:
Name:
Type: Graph
Number of nodes: 1000
Number of edges: 2991
Average degree:   5.9820
        Parallel version
                Time: 3.9284 seconds
                Betweenness centrality for node 0: 0.00941
        Non-Parallel version
                Time: 3.5926 seconds
                Betweenness centrality for node 0: 0.00941

Computing betweenness centrality for:
Name:
Type: Graph
Number of nodes: 1000
Number of edges: 4960
Average degree:   9.9200
        Parallel version
                Time: 4.9257 seconds
                Betweenness centrality for node 0: 0.00169
        Non-Parallel version
                Time: 4.5753 seconds
                Betweenness centrality for node 0: 0.00169

Computing betweenness centrality for:
Name:
Type: Graph
Number of nodes: 1000
Number of edges: 2000
Average degree:   4.0000
        Parallel version
                Time: 3.7236 seconds
                Betweenness centrality for node 0: 0.01186
        Non-Parallel version
                Time: 3.3111 seconds
                Betweenness centrality for node 0: 0.01186

from multiprocessing import Pool
import time
import itertools

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import networkx as nx


def chunks(l, n):
    """Divide a list of nodes `l` in `n` chunks"""
    l_c = iter(l)
    while 1:
        x = tuple(itertools.islice(l_c, n))
        if not x:
            return
        yield x


def betweenness_centrality_parallel(G, processes=None):
    """Parallel betweenness centrality  function"""
    p = Pool(processes=processes)
    node_divisor = len(p._pool) * 4
    node_chunks = list(chunks(G.nodes(), int(G.order() / node_divisor)))
    num_chunks = len(node_chunks)
    bt_sc = p.starmap(
        nx.betweenness_centrality_subset,
        zip(
            [G] * num_chunks,
            node_chunks,
            [list(G)] * num_chunks,
            [True] * num_chunks,
            [None] * num_chunks,
        ),
    )

    # Reduce the partial solutions
    bt_c = bt_sc[0]
    for bt in bt_sc[1:]:
        for n in bt:
            bt_c[n] += bt[n]
    return bt_c


G_ba = nx.barabasi_albert_graph(1000, 3)
G_er = nx.gnp_random_graph(1000, 0.01)
G_ws = nx.connected_watts_strogatz_graph(1000, 4, 0.1)
for G in [G_ba, G_er, G_ws]:
    print("")
    print("Computing betweenness centrality for:")
    print(nx.info(G))
    print("\tParallel version")
    start = time.time()
    bt = betweenness_centrality_parallel(G)
    print(f"\t\tTime: {(time.time() - start):.4F} seconds")
    print(f"\t\tBetweenness centrality for node 0: {bt[0]:.5f}")
    print("\tNon-Parallel version")
    start = time.time()
    bt = nx.betweenness_centrality(G)
    print(f"\t\tTime: {(time.time() - start):.4F} seconds")
    print(f"\t\tBetweenness centrality for node 0: {bt[0]:.5f}")
print("")

nx.draw(G_ba, node_size=100)
plt.show()