Distributed and Parallel Computing

Hesham El-Rewini, Theodore Gyle Lewis

Manning, 1998 - Computers - 447 pages

The state-of-the-art in high-performance concurrent computing -- theory and practice.
-- Detailed coverage of the growing integration between parallel and distributed computing.
-- Advanced approaches for programming distributed, parallel systems -- and adapting traditional sequential software.
-- Creating a Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) from networked, heterogeneous systems.This is the most up-to-date, comprehensive guide to the rapidly changing field of distributed and parallel systems.The book begins with an introductory survey of distributed and parallel computing: its rationale and evolution. It compares and contrasts a wide variety of approaches to parallelism, from distributed computer networks, to parallelism within processors (such as Intel's MMX), to massively parallel systems. The book introduces state-of-the-art methods for programming parallel systems, including approaches to reverse engineering traditional sequential software. It includes detailed coverage of the critical scheduling problem, compares multiple programming languages and environments, and shows how to measure the performance of parallel systems. The book introduces the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) system for writing programs that run on a network of heterogenous systems; the new Message Passing Interface (MPI-2)standard; and finally, the growing role of Java in writing distributed and parallel applications.

Contents

• What is distributed and parallel computing?: 1
• Performance measures: 42
• Distributed and parallel processors: 82

About the author

HESHAM EL-REWINI, PHD, PE, is a full professor and chairman of the Department of Computer Sciences and Engineering at Southern Methodist University (SMU). He has co-authored several books, published numerous research papers in journals and conference proceedings, and chaired many international conferences.

MOSTAFA ABD-EL-BARR, PHD, PEnG, is a professor and chairman of the Department of Information Science at Kuwait University. He has co-authored two other books, published more than 120 research papers in journals and conference proceedings, and served as chair for a number of international conferences and symposia.

Ted Lewis is CEO, and President of Daimler Chrysler Research & Technology Center, North America, in Palo Alto, CA. Before that he was Professor of Computer Science at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. Prior to 1993, he was a Professor of Computer Science at Oregon State University and Director of OACIS--a University-Industry Research Center created to transfer technology from research into products.
Lewis holds advanced degrees in Mathematics (BS), and Computer Science (MS, Ph.D.), and has over 30 years of experience with computers, starting with vacuum tube machines. More recently, he has designed e-commerce systems, web-zines, web-enabled databases, re-engineered large-scale enterprise systems, implemented video, teleconferencing systems for distance learning, defined software products for information appliances, performed technology and marketing assessments of network appliances, and advised clients on product definitions for World Wide Web Products.
He has extensive experience in the technical publishing industry, having served as the Editor-in-Chief of "IEEE Software" magazine 1987-1990, "Computer" magazine 1993-1994, Editorial Board member of "IEEE Spectrum" magazine 1990-1998, and was elected to the Governing Board of the Computer Society, twice. Widely read in the computer industry, Lewis writes the Binary Critic column for "IEEE Computer" magazine, and has written the Wired Wired World column for "IEEE Internet Computing," He is also an occasional contributor to "Scientific American, Upside," and other trade periodicals. He has been a guest of PBS Tech Nation, Ann On-line, Business Commerce Daily, Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, and a number of SiliconValley TV and radio stations.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Distributed and Parallel Computing
• Authors: Hesham El-Rewini, Theodore Gyle Lewis
• Publisher: Manning, 1998
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Nov 20, 2007
• ISBN: 0137955928, 9780137955923
• Length: 447 pages
• Subjects: Computers / Management Information Systems