Unmatched: 50 Years of Supercomputing: A Personal Journey Accompanying the Evolution of a Powerful Tool
The rapid and extraordinary progress of supercomputing over the past half-century is a powerful demonstration of our relentless drive to understand and shape the world around us. In this book, David Barkai offers a unique and compelling account of this remarkable technological journey, drawing from his own rich experiences working at the forefront of high-performance computing (HPC).
This book is a journey delineated as five decade-long ‘epochs’ defined by the systems’ architectural themes: vector processors, multi-processors, microprocessors, clusters, and accelerators and cloud computing. The final part examines key issues of HPC and discusses where it might be headed.
A central goal of this book is to show how computing power has been applied, and, more importantly, how it has impacted and benefitted society. To this end, the use of HPC is illustrated in a range of industries and applications, from weather and climate modeling to engineering and life sciences. As such, this book appeals to both students and general readers with an interest in HPC, as well as industry professionals looking to revolutionize their practice.
From the Foreword:
“David Barkai's career has spanned five decades, during which he has had the rare opportunity to be part of some of the most significant developments in the field of supercomputing. His personal and professional insights, combined with his deep knowledge and passion for the subject matter, make this book an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the evolution of HPC and its impact on our lives.”
-Horst Simon, Director, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) Lab
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Short Introduction to Scientific Computing
Part I The Epoch of Big Iron
Chapter 1: In the Old Days…
Chapter 2: Vector Processes
Chapter 3: Vectorizing Applications
Chapter 4: Numerical Weather Prediction
Chapter 5: Vector Processors for Weather
Part II The Epoch of Multiprocessors
Chapter 6: Macro Parallelism
Chapter 7: Making Use of Multi-Processors
Chapter 8: Attached Processors, Microprocessors, and Mini-Supers
Chapter 9: Studying the Standard Model
Chapter 10: HPC for the Automotive Design – Early Days
Chapter 11: End of an Era
Part III The Epoch of Microprocessors
Chapter 12: Towards Massive Parallelism
Chapter 13: Engineering with HPC
Chapter 14: HPC for the Aero Industry
Chapter 15: The WRF Story
Chapter 16: Planning Ahead
Part IV The Epoch of Clusters
Chapter 17: Standardization
Chapter 18: HPC at Intel
Chapter 19: High Productivity in HPC
Chapter 20: Weather Models’ Impact on Our Lives
Chapter 21: Computational Life Sciences
Chapter 22: Genomics and Beyond
Part V The Epoch of Accelerators and Cloud
Chapter 23: Codesign
Chapter 24 The Changing Face of HPC
Chapter 25: HPC in the Cloud
Chapter 26: The NCAR Models
Chapter 27: Modelling the Earth System
Chapter 28: HPC, Cloud and AI for Engineering
Chapter 29: Two Scientific Anecdotes: LIGO, Fusion
Chapter 30: The COVID-19 Campaign
Part VI Wrap Up and Outlook
Chapter 31: P is for Performance
Chapter 32: Fortran: The Coarrays Story
Chapter 33: Fortran Today
Chapter 34: Thoughts from the Guardians of Fortran
Chapter 35: Measure of HPC Impact
Chapter 36: Looking Forward
Bibliography
Index
Biography
David Barkai started his HPC career shortly after receiving a PhD in theoretical physics in the early ‘70s and was active in the field for over 40 years. A central theme of his work was the relationships between applications and architecture, with numerous publications over the years. David’s employment at several HPC companies during their heydays – Control Data, Floating Point Systems, Cray Research, Supercomputing Systems Inc., Intel, and SGI – as well as a stint at NASA, offered him a front-row view of the evolving HPC scene over the last few decades.
