Using Simple Abstraction to Guide the Reinvention of Computing for Parallelism
Uzi Vishkin · University Libraries (University of Maryland) · 2009
The sudden shift from single-processor computer systems to many-processor parallel ones requires reinventing much of Computer Science (CS): how to actually build and program the new parallel systems. CS urgently requires convergence to a robust parallel general-purpose platform that provides good performance and is easy enough to program by at least all CS majors. Unfortunately, lesser ease-ofprogramming objectives have eluded decades of parallel computing research. The idea of starting with an established easy parallel programming model and build an architecture for it has been treated as radical by vendors. This article advocates a more radical idea. Start with a minimalist stepping-stone: a simple abstraction that encapsulates the desired interface between programmers and system builders.