Basic HTML version of Foils prepared 23 August 1998

Foil 60 What is Parallel Architecture?

From CPS615-Introduction-Course,Driving Technology and HPCC Current Status and Futures CPS615 Basic Simulation Track for Computational Science -- Fall Semester 98. by Geoffrey C. Fox, (Some Culler, Koelbel material)
A parallel computer is any old collection of processing elements that cooperate to solve large problems fast
  • from a pile of PC's to a shared memory multiprocessor
Some broad issues:
  • Resource Allocation:
    • how large a collection?
    • how powerful are the elements?
    • how much memory?
  • Data access, Communication and Synchronization
    • how do the elements cooperate and communicate?
    • how are data transmitted between processors?
    • what are the abstractions and primitives for cooperation?
  • Performance and Scalability
    • how does it all translate into performance?
    • how does it scale?

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