Is an Alligator Better Than an Armadillo
Kathy J. Liszka, John K. Antonio · 1997
esigning a parallel machine would be much easier if oneinterconnection network were “best” for all applicationsand all operating environments (including hardware, soft-ware, and financial factors). Unfortunately, no such net-work exists. Furthermore, even for a fixed applicationdomain and a fixed operating environment, selecting the best network maybe difficult because many cost and performance metrics could be used.Suppose someone asked you to select the best animal. What featureswould you use to compare, say, an alligator and an armadillo? In someways, the two are very similar: both have four legs, a rugged exterior, andsharp claws. However, in other ways the two are very different: one prefersa marshy environment, the other dry land; one has a long tail, the othera short tail; one is a reptile, the other a mammal. Which of the two, then,is a better animal and what makes it better? Is it which one could win afight? Alligators are generally bigger, but how do you incorporate theirneed for more food because they are bigger? Moreover, what is a fair com-parison of their ability to fight? Must you consider two armadillos againstone alligator? If so, should their combined weight equal that of the alli-gator? Or should they be end-to-end the same length?