Parallel Supercomputing in SIMD Architectures

Book excerpt: Parallel Supercomputing in SIMD Architectures is a survey book providing a thorough review of Single-Instruction-Multiple-Data machines, a type of parallel processing computer that has grown to importance in recent years. It was written to describe this technology in depth including the architectural concept, its history, a variety of hardware implementations, major programming languages, algorithmic methods, representative applications, and an assessment of benefits and drawbacks. Although there are numerous books on parallel processing, this is the first volume devoted entirely to the massively parallel machines of the SIMD class. The reader already familiar with low order parallel processing will discover a different philosophy of parallelism--the data parallel paradigm instead of the more familiar program parallel scheme. The contents are organized into nine chapters, rich with illustrations and tables. The first two provide introduction and background covering fundamental concepts and a description of early SIMD computers. Chapters 3 through 8 each address specific machines from the first SIMD supercomputer (Illiac IV) through several contemporary designs to some example research computers. The final chapter provides commentary and lessons learned. Because the test of any technology is what it can do, diverse applications are incorporated throughout, leading step by step to increasingly ambitious examples. The book is intended for a wide range of readers. Computer professionals will find sufficient detail to incorporate much of this material into their own endeavors. Program managers and applications system designers may find the solution to their requirements for high computational performance at an affordable cost. Scientists and engineers will find sufficient processing speed to make interactive simulation a practical adjunct to theory and experiment. Students will find a case study of an emerging and maturing technology. The general reader is afforded the opportunity to appreciate the power of advanced computing and some of the ramifications of this growing capability.