Topics: Computers : Parallel Computing
Parallel computing is the science and art of programming computers that can do more than one operation at once, concurrently, during the same cycle, often via having more than one processor. Some parallel computers are just regular workstations that have more than one processor in them; others are giant single computers with many processors (these are generally referred to as supercomputers); and others are networks of individual computers. A network of computers configured to coordinate on computing problems is also called a cluster. Parallel computers can run some types of programs far faster than traditional single processor computers, often termed the von Neumann architecture.Programs that work on a single-processor computer don't automatically work on a parallel computer. Programmers must explicitly specify how to divide up the computing work between all available nodes. Information about writing programs especially for parallel computers is in Parallel_Computing/Programming. Many people have written libraries to help programmers write programs for parallel computers.Parallel computing is a very similar field to distributed computing. Both types of computing involve breaking apart a problem into many pieces and assigning each part to a computer, but the nodes of a distributed computer normally not communicate with each other while performing their computations, because they may be great distances apart. Sites related to distributed computing are in Computers/Computer_Science/Distributed_Computing.
Beowulf
The word 'beowulf' refers to a class of parallel computers. A Beowulf-class computer is a cluster computer composed of bare-bones computers (generally cheap ones, containing only a processor, memory, and a network card) connected with fast networking.
Cluster Sites,
Documentation,
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Conferences
This category is for homepages of parallel computing conferences.
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Documentation
This category contains technical information about parallel computing. Information about how to write programs for parallel computers is in Parallel_Computing/Programming/Documentation.
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Programming
This category contains sites related to parallel programming. This includes parallel compilers, message-passing libraries, parallel programming tools, and documentation.
Documentation,
Environments,
Languages,
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Projects
A parallel computing project may be any research endeavor related to some aspect of parallel programming.
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Vendors
This category contains vendors of parallel computing hardware and software. Vendors that specialize in Beowulf clusters are listed in the Computers/Parallel_Computing/Beowulf/Vendors category.
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