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Parallel processing, the challenge of new computer architectures
147
BOOK REVIEWS
Parallel Processing, The Challenge of New Computer Architectures, Tim Johnson and Tony Durham Reviewer: L.O. Hertzberger, ComputerScience Dept, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 41882, NL-IO09 DB Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Parallel computing is a rapidly developing field that will have a major impact on the way in which computing needs will be fulfilled in the future. Using parallel computing demands new methods for analysing applications, it requires new programming techniques exploiting parallelism in the applications and new machine architectures for the execution of these programs. Untill recently the field of parallel computing was mainly a research area with limited practical applications. As a consequence condensed literature in this field is far from complete. Except for journals and conferences reporting on the latest results in research, there is not much information available. Because of this Parallel Processing: the challenge of new computer architectures fills a gap. However, it does more than that because it is one of the first books that also concentrates on the economic aspect of parallel computing and doing so shows the impact of parallel computing for solving the computational problems in the future. It shows that parallel computing is not only a research subject any more, but is becoming an economic reality and will consequently be of importance for everyone planning to buy a larger amount of computer power, now and in the near future. The book gives an extensive overview of the North-Holland Future Generations Computer Systems3 (1987) 147-151
types of parallel computers that exist and their availability on the market. Moreover the reader can find useful information about the different companies producing such machines as well as the power of the product they deliver. Because of the size of the report (452 pages) and the large amount of information presented, it is regrettable that the authors did not write an introduction familiarizing the reader with the contents of the report and that of the various sections. Now he has to discover for himself what he considers most important among the widely varying subjects that constitute parallel computing such as; the impact of- and progress in VLSI technology, the architecture of parallel computers, the progress in language development or the economical impact of parallel machines etc. The fact that the authors of the report found it necessary to define their own nomenclature for shared respective direct connection machines (by calling them farms and cube architectures) is one of the few additional points by criticism that one may have on this publication. But this is certainly compensated by the large amount of useful information the authors were able to compile and the detailed knowledge on the subject they show. It is a pity that they did not dwell longer on the potentialities of parallel computing in such areas as relational databases and knowledge engineering. The limited amount of commercial parallel computer products available in these fields might be the cause of this flaw. Under the heading "Management Summary" the report starts off with a survey of the field explaining the importance of parallel computing in general. It is good overview for those not familiar with the subject giving a good taste of the potentialities of parallel computing both economi-
0376-5075/87/$3.50 © 1987, ElsevierScience Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)
148
Book Reviews
cally as well as scientific. In the analysis given, emphasis is more or less completely on numeric type of applications neglecting a bit the importance of symbolic computations now and particularly in the future. The sales figures presented in this part may give a bit overoptimistic picture for the impact of cube architectures. The authors themselves observe that, as long as some of the software problems experienced with these architectures are not solved, these figures should be considered with care. The next section "Markets" shows that there is an emerging industry and gives an overview of those companies active in the field. The definition of different machine grain sizes and the compilation of the features of farms and cubes are a bit biased and incomplete. The overview given in this chapter concerning the commercial products and the most important research machines is good and useful for those considering to buy such products or planning new research projects in the field. This chapter also contains a good survey of possible applications as well as a comparison with supercomputers applications. In this section numeric as well as symbolic applications are taken into consideration. Moreover an attempt is made to develop criteria that can be used to judge the usefulness of a particular machine for a certain application. Also the issue of the languages is treated, while at the end of this chapter a forecast for the impact of parallel computing in the USA and UK is given. The reader can compare these
figures with forecasts for the workstation and supercomputer markets. The next chapter "Technology" starts off by discussing the architectural issues involved in parallel computing. Here such different aspects as interconnection networks, the impact of VLSI technology or the various languages used in parallel computer systems are discussed. This chapter is useful for those who have a more research oriented interest in parallel computing. An in-depth discussion is presented of all the issues that play a role either in designing or in applying parallel computers. This part could be used as a textbook for a course on the subject. The last chapter which comprises about half of the total publication contains detailed information considering the various companies and their products as well as the research projects and their goals. This part of the publication contains useful information for those who are interested in a particular product or project and want to obtain as much detailed information as possible. However, it could be considered too detailed for scope of total report. It can be concluded that this publication is useful for a large group of professionals interested or involved in parallel computing. These can vary from governmental policy makers or company managers planning parallel computing to researchers using or building parallel computers.
BOOK REVIEWS
Parallel Processing, The Challenge of New Computer Architectures, Tim Johnson and Tony Durham Reviewer: L.O. Hertzberger, ComputerScience Dept, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 41882, NL-IO09 DB Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Parallel computing is a rapidly developing field that will have a major impact on the way in which computing needs will be fulfilled in the future. Using parallel computing demands new methods for analysing applications, it requires new programming techniques exploiting parallelism in the applications and new machine architectures for the execution of these programs. Untill recently the field of parallel computing was mainly a research area with limited practical applications. As a consequence condensed literature in this field is far from complete. Except for journals and conferences reporting on the latest results in research, there is not much information available. Because of this Parallel Processing: the challenge of new computer architectures fills a gap. However, it does more than that because it is one of the first books that also concentrates on the economic aspect of parallel computing and doing so shows the impact of parallel computing for solving the computational problems in the future. It shows that parallel computing is not only a research subject any more, but is becoming an economic reality and will consequently be of importance for everyone planning to buy a larger amount of computer power, now and in the near future. The book gives an extensive overview of the North-Holland Future Generations Computer Systems3 (1987) 147-151
types of parallel computers that exist and their availability on the market. Moreover the reader can find useful information about the different companies producing such machines as well as the power of the product they deliver. Because of the size of the report (452 pages) and the large amount of information presented, it is regrettable that the authors did not write an introduction familiarizing the reader with the contents of the report and that of the various sections. Now he has to discover for himself what he considers most important among the widely varying subjects that constitute parallel computing such as; the impact of- and progress in VLSI technology, the architecture of parallel computers, the progress in language development or the economical impact of parallel machines etc. The fact that the authors of the report found it necessary to define their own nomenclature for shared respective direct connection machines (by calling them farms and cube architectures) is one of the few additional points by criticism that one may have on this publication. But this is certainly compensated by the large amount of useful information the authors were able to compile and the detailed knowledge on the subject they show. It is a pity that they did not dwell longer on the potentialities of parallel computing in such areas as relational databases and knowledge engineering. The limited amount of commercial parallel computer products available in these fields might be the cause of this flaw. Under the heading "Management Summary" the report starts off with a survey of the field explaining the importance of parallel computing in general. It is good overview for those not familiar with the subject giving a good taste of the potentialities of parallel computing both economi-
0376-5075/87/$3.50 © 1987, ElsevierScience Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)
148
Book Reviews
cally as well as scientific. In the analysis given, emphasis is more or less completely on numeric type of applications neglecting a bit the importance of symbolic computations now and particularly in the future. The sales figures presented in this part may give a bit overoptimistic picture for the impact of cube architectures. The authors themselves observe that, as long as some of the software problems experienced with these architectures are not solved, these figures should be considered with care. The next section "Markets" shows that there is an emerging industry and gives an overview of those companies active in the field. The definition of different machine grain sizes and the compilation of the features of farms and cubes are a bit biased and incomplete. The overview given in this chapter concerning the commercial products and the most important research machines is good and useful for those considering to buy such products or planning new research projects in the field. This chapter also contains a good survey of possible applications as well as a comparison with supercomputers applications. In this section numeric as well as symbolic applications are taken into consideration. Moreover an attempt is made to develop criteria that can be used to judge the usefulness of a particular machine for a certain application. Also the issue of the languages is treated, while at the end of this chapter a forecast for the impact of parallel computing in the USA and UK is given. The reader can compare these
figures with forecasts for the workstation and supercomputer markets. The next chapter "Technology" starts off by discussing the architectural issues involved in parallel computing. Here such different aspects as interconnection networks, the impact of VLSI technology or the various languages used in parallel computer systems are discussed. This chapter is useful for those who have a more research oriented interest in parallel computing. An in-depth discussion is presented of all the issues that play a role either in designing or in applying parallel computers. This part could be used as a textbook for a course on the subject. The last chapter which comprises about half of the total publication contains detailed information considering the various companies and their products as well as the research projects and their goals. This part of the publication contains useful information for those who are interested in a particular product or project and want to obtain as much detailed information as possible. However, it could be considered too detailed for scope of total report. It can be concluded that this publication is useful for a large group of professionals interested or involved in parallel computing. These can vary from governmental policy makers or company managers planning parallel computing to researchers using or building parallel computers.