1 Parallel Computers and Computation

  In this chapter, we review the role of parallelism in computing and   introduce the parallel machine and programming models that will serve   as the basis for subsequent discussion of algorithm design,   performance analysis, and implementation.

After studying this chapter, you should be aware of the importance of concurrency, scalability, locality, and modularity in parallel program design. You should also be familiar with the idealized multicomputer model for which we shall design parallel algorithms, and the computation and communication abstractions that we shall use when describing parallel algorithms.

• 1.1 Parallelism and Computing
• 1.2 A Parallel Machine Model
• 1.3 A Parallel Programming Model
• 1.4 Parallel Algorithm Examples
• 1.5 Summary
• Exercises
• Chapter Notes