High Performance Computing

Even if you never touch a line of code, High Performance Computing will help you make sense of the newest generation of workstations. A must for anyone who needs to worry about computer performance, this book covers everything, from the basics of modern workstation architecture, to structuring benchmarks, to squeezing more performance out of critical applications. It also explains what a good compiler can do--and what you have to do yourself. The author also discusses techniques for improving memory access patterns and taking advantage of parallelism. Another valuable section of the book discusses the benchmarking process, or how to evaluate a computer's performance. Kevin Dowd discusses several of the "standard" industry benchmarks, explaining what they measure and what they don't. He also explains how to set up your own benchmark: how to structure the code, how to measure the results, and how to interpret them.

Charles Severance is the associate director for advanced technology at the University of Michigan Media Union, where he also teaches computer science courses including Introduction to C++. His current research is in the area of Internet delivery of educational material. He has been active in IEEE standards for many years, and he edits a monthly column in the magazine IEEE Computer on computer standards. Charles is the co-host of the television show North Coast Digital and was previously the co-host of the television show Nothin but Net.

Kevin Dowd is a consultant to the aerospace and commercial industries, specializing in performance computing and information infrastructures. He is a veteran of two computer companies (which no longer make computers), and the nuclear power plant business (not many more of those have been made either). Kevin is a principal in the Atlantic Computing Technology Corporation, located in Wethersfield, Connecticut.