Basic HTML version of Foils prepared 26 September 1996

Foil 36 Embarassingly Parallel Problem Class

From HPCC Software Technologies Fall 96 -- Overview and HPF Delivered Lectures of CPS615 Basic Simulation Track for Computational Science -- 26 September 96. by Geoffrey C. Fox


Loosely Synchronous, Synchronous or Asynchronous classify problems by their "control" or "synchronization" structure
However there is an important class of problems where this does not matter as the synchronization overhead -- even if in the difficult asynchronous case -- is irrelevant
This is when overhead small or zero. These are "embarassingly parallel problems" where each component of decomposed problem is essentially independent
Examples are:
  • Financial Modelling where each component is calculating some expected value for a particular (possibly Monte Carlo) set of assumptions about the future
  • OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) where each component is a separate checking of a credit card transaction against the account data
  • Graphics rendering where each component is the calculation of the color of a particular pixel.



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