Product Description
Volume 2 discusses programming environments and development tools, Java as a language of choice for development in highly parallel systems, and state-of-the-art high performance algorithms and applications. DLC:High performance computing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Parallel is the way to go
A pleasant read but I think the Wilkenson and Allen book called Parallel Computing is better written.All in all it wasn't bad and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a secondary source. ... Read more

Product Description
Although the computing demands of real-time signal processing and control applications are increasing rapidly, parallel processors permit several instructions to be dealt with simultaneously so that the "real-time" needed is manageable. This book introduces the advantages of this strategy and details how to use parallel processing to deal with common signal processing and control algorithms. It emphasises the relationship between the computing requirements of algorithms and the appropriate choice of architectures, while demonstrating how to identify processor capabilities and how to exploit them to the fullest. The text includes examples and end-of-chapter exercises to facilitate self- and group study and case studies to put theoretical concepts into a practical context. For advanced students in parallel computing, control and signal processing disciplines, it is an invaluable tool in learning to get the most from their computer systems. ... Read more

Product Description
The first edition of The Art of Parallel Programming was adopted as a course text by 62 Universities. Now completely revised and updated, this book provides in-depth coverage of the major organizational techniques for parallel programs, including specific parallel algorithms to illustrate these techniques. Author Bruce P. Lester covers topics such as data partitioning, multiprocessor architecture, synchronous parallelism, MPI standard library, communication streams, data sharing, replicated workers, and much more. Key Features of the book include: (1) Parallel algorithms from many areas, including matrix algorithms, graph algorithms, solution to linear equations, sorting, solution to differential equations, image processing, discrete optimization, and communication algorithms. (2) Two comprehensive chapters on parallel computer architecture. (3) Practical performance analysis methods combining mathematical analysis of algorithms with measurement of actual parallel program execution time. (4) Techniques to avoid common sources of performance degradation, such as memory contention, communication delay, load imbalance, synchronization delay, network congestion, process creation time. (5) Practical parallel programming skills developed through short programming exercises and more extensive programming projects using the C language. (6) A free software package containing a Parallel Computer Simulation System that runs on any ordinary computer, allowing you to gain experience with parallel programming without the need for an expensive parallel computer system. ... Read more

Product Description
New automated, application-independent methodology for designing and deploying sensor networks

Following this book's clear explanations, examples, and illustrations, domain experts can design and deploy nontrivial networked sensing applications without much knowledge of the low-level networking aspects of deployment. This new approach is based on the Abstract Task Graph (ATaG), a data-driven programming model and an innovative methodology forarchitecture-independent programming and automatic software synthesis for sensor networks. ATaG programs are concise, understandable, and network-independent descriptions of global application functionality that can be automatically compiled onto any target deployment.

The book begins with an overview chapter that addresses the important issues of programming methodologies and compares various programming models for sensor networks. Next, the authors set forth everything you need for designing and deploying sensor networks using ATaG, including:

• Detailed description of the ATaG model's features

• System-level support for architecture-independent programming

• Examination of the graphical programming and software synthesis environment for ATaG

• Case study illustrating the process of end-to-end application development and software synthesis using ATaG

Throughout the book, the authors provide code excerpts and figures to help clarify key concepts and explain each step.

For programmers, the graphical formalism of the ATaG program, coupled with the fact it uses an existing language (Java), means that no special training is needed to start developing and deploying applications in ATaG. Everything you need to know is clearly set forth in this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Recent progress in VLSI provides massive parallelism but general purpose parallel computers remain elusive due to limited communications performance. This book proposes a new high level approach to programming that addresses the pragmatic issue of how a computation is distributed across a machine.The book's approach is based on functional programming and has significant advantages over existing comparable approaches, extending the domain of functional programming to include computer architectures in which communication costs are not negligible. It looks at how high-level functional programming languages can be used to specify, reason about, and implement parallel programs for a variety of multiprocessor systems, but in particular a class of loosely coupled multiprocessors whose operation can be described by a process network In these networks the nodes correspond to processes and the arcs to communications channels.A simple language called Caliban is described in which the functional program text is augmented with a declarative description of how processes are partitioned and mapped onto a network of processing elements. The notation gains expressive power by allowing these annotations to be generated by predicates defined in the functional language. Thus, common communications structures have simple and concise definitions as "network forming operators." The main objective of these annotations is to provide an abstract description of the process network specified by the program so that an efficient mapping of processes to processors can be carried out by the compiler.Paul H. J. Kelly is Research Assistant in the Department of Computing at Imperial College, London Functional Programming for LooselyCoupled Multiprocessors is included in the series Research Monographs in Parallel and Distributed Computing, copublished with Pitman Publishing. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by the team that developed the software, this tutorial is thedefinitive resource for scientists, engineers, and other computer userswho want to use PVM to increase the flexibility and power of theirhigh-performance computing resources. PVM introduces distributedcomputing, discusses where and how to get the PVM software, provides anoverview of PVM and a tutorial on setting up and running existingprograms, and introduces basic programming techniques including puttingPVM in existing code. There are program examples and details on how PVMworks on UNIX and multiprocessor systems, along with advanced topics(portability, debugging, improving performance) and troubleshooting. PVM(Parallel Virtual Machine) is a software package that enables thecomputer user to define a networked heterogeneous collection of serial,parallel, and vector computers to function as one large computer. It canbe used as stand-alone software or as a foundation for otherheterogeneous network software. PVM may be configured to contain variousmachine architectures, including sequential processors, vectorprocessors, and multicomputers, and it can be ported to new computerarchitectures that may emerge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Parallelism APIs evolving
The Parallel Virtual Machine abstraction assumes a message passing environment built from Unix machines. It's message passing primitives are a good deal simpler than MPI's, and the authors note that MPI can be effective as an under-layer for that part of PVM. Unlike MPI, however, PVM emphasizes heterogeneous computing ensemble built from whatever hardware is already at hand.

What sets PVM apart from the others is its emphasis on the pragmatics of multi-computer coordination. More than the usual SPMD coordination, it has facilities for managing the ensemble. It even has facilities for signalling runaway processes and for recovering from lost nodes and other errors. And, although the authors note many system-dependent specifics, they address issues that arise in managing the server daemons, crossing administrative boundaries, and other pragmatics of parallel computing.

Most of the book is taken up with code samples and man pages for the PVM API. That gives it a very hands-on, practical feel, short on the philosophical and theoretical tone of other books on parallelism APIs. PVM doesn't depend on special compilers, so it's a bit easier for C programmers to approach than OpenMP is. And it's a compact API with just a few central concepts, mostly drawn from standard C idioms, so it's lot simpler that MPI. The book's mention of MasPar, Kendall Square Research, DEC, and Thinking Machines gives an antiquated sense, though. I'm not sure how common PVM is, these days, but if it's what you have, then this is the book for you.

//wiredweird

So you want to build a super computer?
I bought this book because I built a super-computer out of junk computers. I am writing a game based on Risk (the board game) that runs on all these machines. I decided I liked PVM better than MPI, because PVM doesn't require any special compilers and also it worked easier with SSH. Also it was easier to setup and use than MPI (IMHO).

This book is a good tutorial and introduction to PVM but the problem is it talks alot about strange computers and things you will most likely never heard of (HIPPI,bit-vector computers). While it is cool stuff, it's pretty old now. But, PVM is still alot easier (IMHO) to get into than MPI.

Or you can just roll your message passing code by hand using TCP/IP too. ... Read more

Product Description
Thorough, up-to-date introduction to parallel computing in this revision of a classic. Emphasizes the most recent technology and how it affects parallel computing, including RISC chips, CMOS, and fiber optics. DLC: Parallel processing (Electronic computers) ... Read more

Product Description
An In-Depth View of Hardware Issues, Programming Practices, and Implementation of Key Methods

Exploring the challenges of parallel programming from the perspective of quantum chemists, Parallel Computing in Quantum Chemistry thoroughly covers topics relevant to designing and implementing parallel quantum chemistry programs.

Focusing on good parallel program design and performance analysis, the first part of the book deals with parallel computer architectures and parallel computing concepts and terminology. The authors discuss trends in hardware, methods, and algorithms; parallel computer architectures and the overall system view of a parallel computer; message-passing; parallelization via multi-threading; measures for predicting and assessing the performance of parallel algorithms; and fundamental issues of designing and implementing parallel programs.

The second part contains detailed discussions and performance analyses of parallel algorithms for a number of important and widely used quantum chemistry procedures and methods. The book presents schemes for the parallel computation of two-electron integrals, details the Hartree–Fock procedure, considers the parallel computation of second-order Møller–Plesset energies, and examines the difficulties of parallelizing local correlation methods.

Through a solid assessment of parallel computing hardware issues, parallel programming practices, and implementation of key methods, this invaluable book enables readers to develop efficient quantum chemistry software capable of utilizing large-scale parallel computers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Awfully thin
First let me say I'll agree with crawdad's statement "it stops too soon", but we differ on how. The book takes a far too cursory description of the parallelizing quantum chemistry codes.

The first 2/3rds of the book are pretty basic parallel computing calculations. The authors tie it to some examples. But there seems to be a disconnect from the topic at the front of the chapter and the examples at the end. The chapter on computer/network architectures is a good example; after referring to seven different network topologies in abstract terms, only two real world examples are given, and that 10 pages later.

In Chapter 5 the authors spend a lot of time working through Amdal's & Gustafson's laws which provide basic models of computation time, but then they go unused for a more precise big O() notation. And Amdal & Gustafson are never heard from again.

One quirk of the way the formulas are written needs to be corrected too. Many of the communications formulas scale logarithmically by processor counts, but the formulas are not formatted to distinguish this. For example, log2pa is actually (log2(p))*a. It reads as though the a (latency) is a part of the log, but it is not.

When we get around the second section, I have a real hard time following. Realize that I come from a Computer Science background not from Chemistry/Physics and simultaneously was working through Lowe's Quantum Chemistry. So maybe it would make sense to a more seasoned chemist. But I have a hard time figuring out precisely what the author is talking about. The code samples are not all that much help. They are in a very high-level pseudo code. So figuring out which element is which and what data is needed where through code inspection is not an option.

I don't want to be entirely critical here. It is very readable despite the problems noted above. There is a lot of good information in the book, but it needs to be much more in depth.

A timely and much-needed book
This is a well-written book aimed at researchers in the field of quantum chemistry -- from graduate students to long-standing experts -- who require a concise and clear description of the most important problems facing efforts to parallelize ab initio quantum chemical programs.Given the rapid emergence of new petascale computer systems containing thousands to even millions of computing cores, the timing of this book is fitting.

Full disclosure: I know the authors of this book well.I have published two peer-reviewed journal articles with Dr. Janssen and one with Dr. Nielsen, and I received lab-directed research and development funding from Sandia National Labs through a Department of Energy project of Dr. Janssen's in 2001-2004.In addition, I reviewed the proposal for the book for Taylor and Francis publishers.However, I was not involved in the writing of the book at all.I purchased it of my own accord, and I am writing this review only because I am very impressed with the finished product.

I found the book to be tremendously enlightening.In the first half, the authors provide an overview of essential aspects and tools of parallel computing: hardware, network topology, message-passing software and methods, threading, load-balancing, etc.In addition, they give a fairly detailed explanation of methods for modeling the parallel performance (speedup and efficiency) of algorithms, as well as aspects of parallel program design. One of the strengths of the book is the way the authors make their points clearer by constantly returning to a few specific examples, including matrix-vector multiplication and the second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) algorithm.

They then make use of the fundamentals developed in the first half of the book to address several key problems in quantum chemical programs: two-electron repulsion integral evaluation, the integral-direct Hartree-Fock method, as well as canonical and local MP2 energy calculations.These provide fertile soil for discussions of load balancing, collective versus one-sided communication, and hybrid (simultaneous shared- and distributed-memory) parallel methods.Each example is well-supported by performance models that provide a clear analysis of the scalability of each algorithm.

My only criticism of the book is that it stops too soon.The numerous problems associated with parallel implementation of more advanced and complicated methods, especially coupled cluster theory, are not discussed, and I would have enjoyed reading the authors' take on this area of on-going research.

Nevertheless, I believe this book will prove to be extremely valuable to those developing quantum chemical program for emerging massively parallel supercomputers.The authors' perspective on the parallelism problem is state-of-the-art, and our field would be wise to listen carefully to what they have to say. ... Read more

Product Description
This book constitutes the carefully refereed proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Applied Parallel Computing, PARA'98, held in Umea, Sweden, in June 1998. The 75 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The papers address a variety of topics in large scale scientific and industrial-strength computing, in particular high-performance computing and networking; tools, languages, and environments for parallel processing; scientific visualization and virtual reality; and future directions in high-performance computing and communication. ... Read more

Product Description
Concurrent computing is the concurrent (simultaneous) execution of multiple interacting computational tasks. These tasks may be implemented as separate programs, or as a set of processes or threads created by a single program. The tasks may also be executing on a single processor, several processors in close proximity, or distributed across a network. Concurrent computing is related to parallel computing, but focuses more on the interactions between tasks. Correct sequencing of the interactions or communications between different tasks, and the co-ordination of access to resources that are shared between tasks, are key concerns during the design of concurrent computing systems. This new book presents the latest research in the field from around the world. ... Read more

Product Description
The book deals with the most recent technology of distributed computing.
As Internet continues to grow and provide practical connectivity between users of computers it has become possible to consider use of computing resources which are far apart and connected by Wide Area Networks.
Instead of using only local computing power it has become practical to access computing resources widely distributed. In some cases between different countries in other cases between different continents.
This idea of using computer power is similar to the well known electric power utility technology. Hence the name of this distributed computing technology is the Grid Computing.
Initially grid computing was used by technologically advanced scientific users.
They used grid computing to experiment with large scale problems which required high performance computing facilities and collaborative work.
In the next stage of development the grid computing technology has become effective and economically attractive for large and medium size commercial companies.
It is expected that eventually the grid computing style ofproviding computing power will become universal reaching every user in industry and business.

* Written by academic and industrial experts who have developed or used grid computing
* Many proposed solutions have been tested in real life applications
* Covers most essential and technically relevant issues in grid computing ... Read more

Product Description
This book sets out the principles of parallel computing, explaining why, where, and how parallel computing is used. It is unique in its coverage of both conventional and neural computing (which act in ways similar to human brains), and also covers such topics as the fundamental paradigms employed in the field, how systems are programmed or trained, technical aspects including connectivity and processing element complexity, and how system performance is estimated (and why doing so is difficult). The penultimate chapter comprises a set of case studies of archetypal parallel computers, each study written by an individual closely connected with the system in question. The final chapter correlates the various aspects of parallel computing into a taxonomy of systems. ... Read more

Product Description
The prefix operation on a set of data is one of the simplest and most useful building blocks in parallel algorithms. This introduction to those aspects of parallel programming and parallel algorithms that relate to the prefix problem emphasizes its use in a broad range of familiar and important problems.The book illustrates how the prefix operation approach to parallel computing leads to fast and efficient solutions to many different kinds of problems. Students, teachers, programmers, and computer scientists will want to read this clear exposition of an important approach. ... Read more

Product Description
The continuous progress in scientific research is one of the important factors explaining the constantly increasing demand for computational power. On the other hand, one of the results of such progress is the availability of more powerful computer platforms. To that end, this volume reviews a broad array of subjects based on the solutions to the daily problems in industrial production, research, and development. ... Read more

Product Description
Optimization and parallel computing are areas of research characterized by an extremely rapid development during the last three decades. The main purpose of this volume is to show the reader a variety of optimization methods and related aspects of parallel computing techniques. The diversity of topics discussed in the book cover a broad spectrum of recent developments in these areas. This book, which grew out of many contributions given by distinguished researchers in honour of the 70th birthday of J.B. Rosen, one of the pioneers in optimization, is intended to serve as a guide for recent literature and as a stimulant to further research on optimization and parallel computing. ... Read more

Product Description

Today, parallel computing experts can solve problems previously deemed impossible and make the "merely difficult" problems economically feasible to solve. This book presents and synthesizes the recent experiences of reknown expert developers who design robust and complex parallel computing applications. They demonstrate how to adapt and implement today's most advanced, most effective parallel computing techniques.

Customer Reviews (1)

Actual Applications
Best documentation of actual applications I have ever seen. This book hashelped my students to understand the real world of parallel computing. ... Read more

Product Description
Proceedings of the Intl Conference ParCo2001 held September 4-7, 2001 in Naples, Italy. Gives an overview of new developments in parallel computing at the start of the 21st century, as well as a perspective on future developments. ... Read more

Product Description

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Parallel Computing Technologies, PaCT 2007, held in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia in September 2007 - in conjunction with the the Russian-Taiwan symposium on Methods and Tools of Parallel Programming of Multicomputers.

The 37 revised full papers and 24 revised poster papers presented together with 2 invited paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 98 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on models and languages, applications, techniques for parallel programming supporting, cellular automata, as well as methods and tools of parallel programming of multicomputers.

Product Description
Provides a comprehensive introduction to parallel computing and an up-to-date review of parallel molecular dynamics. Describes how to modify molecular dynamics software to run on parallel computers. Provides an overview of applications of parallel computing in computational chemistry. Examines the latest software technologies for parallel computing applied to chemistry. Offers both a survey and a detailed hands-on guide to using parallel computing for chemical problems. ... Read more