Parallel Computers

Since the dawn of computing, the quest for a better understanding of Nature has been a driving force for technological development. Groundbreaking achievements by great scientists have paved the way from the abacus to the supercomputing power of today. When trying to replicate Nature in the computer’s silicon test tube, there is need for precise and computable process descriptions. The scienti?c ?elds of Ma- ematics and Physics provide a powerful vehicle for such descriptions in terms of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs).

A balanced overview of the techniques used to design and program parallel computers

There is a software gap between parallel computers and programmers' abilities to program such computers. Programming a parallel computer requires closely studying the target algorithm or application, more so than in traditional sequential programming.