[Beowulf] Pretty High Performance Computing

[Robert G. Brown]

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008, Jon Forrest wrote:

> Given the recent discussion of whether running
> multiple services and other such things affects
> the running of a cluster, I'd like to propose
> a new classification of computing.
>
> I call this Pretty High Performance Computing (PHPC).
> This is a style of computing where you sacrifice
> absolute high performance because of issues relating
> to any combination of convenience, laziness, or lack
> of knowledge.

Works for me... I like it!

A lot of tools are for PHPC and aren't designed to scale all the way out
to the esoteric regime of "real" HPC.  In part this is because things
get really difficult out there.

    rgb

> I know I've been guilty of all three but the funny
> thing is that science seems to get done anyway.
> There's no doubt computations would get done a little faster
> if I or the scientists spent more time worrying
> about microsecond latency, parallel barriers,
> or XML overhead but reality always gets in the way.
> In the future I hope to sin less often but it's a
> growing experience. Reading this, and other, email
> lists sometimes helps.
>
> Cordially,
>
>

-- 
Robert G. Brown                            Phone(cell): 1-919-280-8443
Duke University Physics Dept, Box 90305
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