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Computer Architecture Changes From Hardware Advancements – Parallel Programming
Today I would like to conclude this series of editorials on how advancing hardware has changed our practices with a look at Parallel programming.
Not long ago parallel programming was limited to multiple machines or more expensive hardware having multiple CPUs. Some companies were investing in parallel programming techniques using patterns such as Map/Reduce, popularized by Google. Operating systems were taking advantage of parallel programming for some of their products; database engines were a popular application to split into parallel tasks (and continue to this day).
Then CPU vendors changed tactics for increasing CPU capability. Instead of clocking the chips faster and faster they began to sandwich multiple CPUs onto a single chip. Today it is highly likely that any computing device will have multiple CPUs. This ranges from tiny portable devices such as phones right up to large scale servers.
It doesn’t benefit you as a software consumer to have multiple CPUs if you cannot break your application out into multiple parallel tasks. Your software won’t run any faster on a multi-core machine than on a single core machine unless it is written to take advantage of multiple CPUs.
In today’s GRID/Cloud and multi-core world, parallel programing is become a much sought after skill as well as a popular performance optimization technique for software vendors. Without parallel programming patterns, your computer only benefits when running multiple programs. A single program may actually run slower on a multi-core machine because the clock speeds have been reduced rather than increased.
Are you taking advantage of multiple core or networked worker architectures? Send an Email to btaylor@sswug.org to share how you have taken advantage of the parallel programming model.
Cheers,
Ben
$$SWYNK$$
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