Fox Presentation Fall 1995 Personal View of HPCCI for the Real World -- Industry and Education RCI Executive Conference October 30 - November 1,1995 Geoffrey Fox NPAC at Syracuse University 111 College Place Syracuse NY 13244-4100 Abstract of HPCCI for the Real World Presentation We describe the implications of the Web for Industry and Education WebWindows is the basic Web Operating Environment Java, PERL, VRML, HTML are critical technologies but we can also make better uses of current well established technologies such as relational databases We use WebFoil as an example to illustrate the Web approach to (WebTop) Productivity software with open modular design WebWork is HPCC (Parallel Computing) built using Web Technologies -- a viable supportable base The opportunities include both the delivery of education from K-12 to Continuing education as well as teaching of these new exciting technologies World Wide Web (WWW) is key to HPCC Implementation It provides a pervasive and highly innovative technology base It includes parallel computing as a special case when we impose tight synchronization constraints Correspondingly parallel computing brings key algorithm, language and methodology to WWW distributed computing environment Interesting to compare community of Web Hackers to IBM or Microsoft as software organizations Note Intel Teraflop computer will have 9000 P6's but WWW will have at least one thousand times as many possible nodes varying (eventually) from supercomputers to settop boxes WWW is important as it allows rich (world wide linkage of simulation and information capabilities) open and portable environment WebWindows is Open Portable Environment In future one will NOT write software for either Windows95 if you are say, a game or word processor vendor Current class of (primitive) OS for MPP's Rather one will write software for WebWindows defined as the operating environment for World Wide Web WebWindows builds on top of Web Servers and Web Client open interfaces as in CGI interface for Servers Java or equivalent applet technology for clients Applications written for WebWindows will be portable to all computers running Web Servers or Clients As an example NPAC's WebTools implements UNIX shell/PC file manager capabilities in terms CGI scripts -- allows universal access to these capabilities including powerful Web based mh mail Illustration of WebWindows Concept for Presentation Software Persuasion and Powerpoint are rather similar monolithic packages which can for instance only be clumsily ported to UNIX as cannot access internal data-structures defining foils WebFoil (NPAC prototype WebWindows presentation package) has Extended open HTML source manipulated by powerful PERL5 scripts allowing global changes and linkages of foils from many sources This plays role of outline which is a somewhat crippled open version of Persuasion/Powerpoint foils defining text alone WebFoil Uses Hotjava to display HTML with full Web Power including applets to enable Multimedia and dynamic presentations Lessons of WebFoil for WebWindows Software Development Scenario The WebTop Productivity environment will be built in a more modular fashion than current PC Windows or Macintosh arena e.g. future WebWindows presentation packages will be built from many different modules coming from different commercial or public domain sources Java is key to understanding how WebWindows application/service software will look as it allows balanced client server applications to be built Note require an open display software so can produce appropriate customized interfaces for browsing, presenting, word processing etc. Java may or may not be accepted by Web Community and Sun/Netscape may or may not allow it to used openly However the concept is essential and roughly right -- one or more such open technologies will become available and used on the Web An anecdote contrasting MPP and NII value in Manufacturing For instance as part of my New York State Industrial HPCC outreach program InfoMall, I found that a major manufacturer of large consumer machines had no interest in MPP's for simulating them to improve design However very interested in Storing product information in a Web Interfaced databases Using applets to allow their distributors to download programs to client PC's and simulate installation and use in home/business Here Perl manipulates text from database to HTML Java enables down-loaded simulations VRML enables universal definition of 3D objects -- products and buildings Why is VRML Another Important Concept? VRML illustrates how one can store real world objects in a universal fashion Game vendors can build modules that interact and enable development of amazing profitable virtual worlds! Manufacturers can use VRML as basis of universal product definitions enabling collaborations between several vendors needed for Multidisciplinary analysis and design cf: PDES/STEP standards The Web "levels" the playing field for all software products As in WebFoil, must reimplement Word processors, spreadsheets, graphics packages, workflow systems etc. For instance VRML allows new powerful versions of Geographical Information Systems Implications of Brave New Web World for Education We can use Web technologies to develop new very important tools for education enabling The virtual university -- curricula from faculty around the world taught to students around the world K-12 Education -- See Kim Mills talk November 1 on the Living Schoolbook We can teach these new technologies as world hungry for people understanding these technologies See NPAC's tutorial at Supercomputing 95 Syracuse University proposes new multimedia master's degree We are also now offering two tracks in computational science degree -- simulation and information Some Other Important Issues -- Databases and Computing Web allows one to harness standard relational databases for powerful search of structured information -- Usenet databases, Electronic Mail, Manufacturing Data etc. Parallel Computing is quite well understood but we can NOT implement capabilities we researched as field too small to support viable systems software industry MPP software clearly harder than for PC's as architecture more complex but field is about 1% of that of PC industry The Web allows one to implement HPCC in terms of a sustainable industry base distributed memory parallel machines such as T3D SP2 Paragon should be set up with a web server on each node! Some remarks on WebWork -- HPCC with the Web One of the neatest ideas is WebFlow which is the Web implementation of dataflow which is seen in AVS or Khoros for computing Workflow Systems for project management With Web we can integrate computing and information processing giving a wonderful software engineering environment with for instance Hyperlinked debugging and help systems -- see HyPerl In the longer term, we can see parallel concepts of VRML -- distributed 3D objects Fortran/C++ to support shared memory environment on metacomputers Note Java is a simplification of C++ and could be important here!