Parallel Computing Concepts

All users of advanced cyberinfrastructure, whether they develop their own software or use 3rd party applications, should understand fundamental parallel computing concepts. In this webinar we cover supercomputer architectures, the differences between threads and processes, implementations of parallelism (e.g., OpenMP and MPI), strong and weak scaling, limitations on scalability (Amdahl’s and Gustafson’s Laws) and benchmarking. We also discuss how to choose the appropriate number of compute cores or nodes when running your applications and, when appropriate, the best balance between threads and processes. This webinar does not assume any programming experience and is suited for a wide audience, including current and prospective users of parallel computers, anyone who expects to write a proposal for computer time or those who are simply curious about parallel computing.