The Illiac IV was the first large scale array computer. As the fore runner of today's advanced computers, it brought whole classes of scientific computations into the realm of practicality. Conceived initially as a grand experiment in computer science, the revolutionary architecture incorporated both a high level of parallelism and pipe lining. After a difficult gestation, the Illiac IV became operational in November 1975. It has for a decade been a substantial driving force behind the develooment of computer technology. Today the Illiac IV continues to service large-scale scientific aoolication areas includ ing computational fluid dynamics, seismic stress wave propagation model ing, climate simulation, digital image processing, astrophysics, numerical analysis, spectroscopy and other diverse areas. This volume brings together previously published material, adapted in an effort to provide the reader with a perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of the Illiac IV and the impact this unique computa tional resource has had on the development of technology. The history and current status of the Illiac system, the design and architecture of the hardware, the programming languages, and a considerable sampling of applications are all covered at some length. A final section is devoted to commentary.

Since the publication of the first edition, parallel computing technology has gained considerable momentum. A large proportion of this has come from the improvement in VLSI techniques, offering one to two orders of magnitude more devices than previously possible. A second contributing factor in the fast development of the subject is commercialization. The supercomputer is no longer restricted to a few well-established research institutions and large companies. A new computer breed combining the architectural advantages of the supercomputer with the advance of VLSI technology is now available at very attractive prices. A pioneering device in this development is the transputer, a VLSI processor specifically designed to operate in large concurrent systems. Parallel Computers 2: Architecture, Programming and Algorithms reflects the shift in emphasis of parallel computing and tracks the development of supercomputers in the years since the first edition was published. It looks at large-scale parallelism as found in transputer ensembles. This extensively rewritten second edition includes major new sections on the transputer and the OCCAM language. The book contains specific information on the various types of machines available, details of computer architecture and technologies, and descriptions of programming languages and algorithms. Aimed at an advanced undergraduate and postgraduate level, this handbook is also useful for research workers, machine designers, and programmers concerned with parallel computers. In addition, it will serve as a guide for potential parallel computer users, especially in disciplines where large amounts of computer time are regularly used.

This volume reviews, in the context of partial differential equations, algorithm development that has been specifically aimed at computers that exhibit some form of parallelism. Emphasis is on the solution of PDEs because these are typically the problems that generate high computational demands. The authors discuss architectural features of these computers insomuch as they influence algorithm performance, and provide insight into algorithm characteristics that allow effective use of hardware.