Scientific Programming and Computer Architecture

Scientific Programming and Computer Architecture
Author: Divakar Viswanath
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 625
Release: 2017-07-28
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0262036290

A variety of programming models relevant to scientists explained, with an emphasis on how programming constructs map to parts of the computer. What makes computer programs fast or slow? To answer this question, we have to get behind the abstractions of programming languages and look at how a computer really works. This book examines and explains a variety of scientific programming models (programming models relevant to scientists) with an emphasis on how programming constructs map to different parts of the computer's architecture. Two themes emerge: program speed and program modularity. Throughout this book, the premise is to "get under the hood," and the discussion is tied to specific programs. The book digs into linkers, compilers, operating systems, and computer architecture to understand how the different parts of the computer interact with programs. It begins with a review of C/C++ and explanations of how libraries, linkers, and Makefiles work. Programming models covered include Pthreads, OpenMP, MPI, TCP/IP, and CUDA.The emphasis on how computers work leads the reader into computer architecture and occasionally into the operating system kernel. The operating system studied is Linux, the preferred platform for scientific computing. Linux is also open source, which allows users to peer into its inner workings. A brief appendix provides a useful table of machines used to time programs. The book's website (https://github.com/divakarvi/bk-spca) has all the programs described in the book as well as a link to the html text.

Computer Architecture for Scientists

Computer Architecture for Scientists
Author: Andrew A. Chien
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2022-03-10
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1009008382

The dramatic increase in computer performance has been extraordinary, but not for all computations: it has key limits and structure. Software architects, developers, and even data scientists need to understand how exploit the fundamental structure of computer performance to harness it for future applications. Ideal for upper level undergraduates, Computer Architecture for Scientists covers four key pillars of computer performance and imparts a high-level basis for reasoning with and understanding these concepts: Small is fast – how size scaling drives performance; Implicit parallelism – how a sequential program can be executed faster with parallelism; Dynamic locality – skirting physical limits, by arranging data in a smaller space; Parallelism – increasing performance with teams of workers. These principles and models provide approachable high-level insights and quantitative modelling without distracting low-level detail. Finally, the text covers the GPU and machine-learning accelerators that have become increasingly important for mainstream applications.

Writing Scientific Software

Writing Scientific Software
Author: Suely Oliveira
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2006-09-07
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1139458620

The core of scientific computing is designing, writing, testing, debugging and modifying numerical software for application to a vast range of areas: from graphics, meteorology and chemistry to engineering, biology and finance. Scientists, engineers and computer scientists need to write good code, for speed, clarity, flexibility and ease of re-use. Oliveira and Stewart's style guide for numerical software points out good practices to follow, and pitfalls to avoid. By following their advice, readers will learn how to write efficient software, and how to test it for bugs, accuracy and performance. Techniques are explained with a variety of programming languages, and illustrated with two extensive design examples, one in Fortran 90 and one in C++: other examples in C, C++, Fortran 90 and Java are scattered throughout the book. This manual of scientific computing style will be an essential addition to the bookshelf and lab of everyone who writes numerical software.

The Architecture of Scientific Software

The Architecture of Scientific Software
Author: Ronald F. Boisvert
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2013-04-17
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0387354077

Scientific applications involve very large computations that strain the resources of whatever computers are available. Such computations implement sophisticated mathematics, require deep scientific knowledge, depend on subtle interplay of different approximations, and may be subject to instabilities and sensitivity to external input. Software able to succeed in this domain invariably embeds significant domain knowledge that should be tapped for future use. Unfortunately, most existing scientific software is designed in an ad hoc way, resulting in monolithic codes understood by only a few developers. Software architecture refers to the way software is structured to promote objectives such as reusability, maintainability, extensibility, and feasibility of independent implementation. Such issues have become increasingly important in the scientific domain, as software gets larger and more complex, constructed by teams of people, and evolved over decades. In the context of scientific computation, the challenge facing mathematical software practitioners is to design, develop, and supply computational components which deliver these objectives when embedded in end-user application codes. The Architecture of Scientific Software addresses emerging methodologies and tools for the rational design of scientific software, including component integration frameworks, network-based computing, formal methods of abstraction, application programmer interface design, and the role of object-oriented languages. This book comprises the proceedings of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Conference on the Architecture of Scientific Software, which was held in Ottawa, Canada, in October 2000. It will prove invaluable reading for developers of scientific software, as well as for researchers in computational sciences and engineering.

Software Architecture in Practice

Software Architecture in Practice
Author: Len Bass
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Total Pages: 572
Release: 2003
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9780321154958

This is the eagerly-anticipated revision to one of the seminal books in the field of software architecture which clearly defines and explains the topic.

Software Architecture for Product Families

Software Architecture for Product Families
Author: Mehdi Jazayeri
Publisher: Addison Wesley Longman
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2000
Genre: Computers
ISBN:

Software development organizations are now discovering the efficiencies that can be achieved by architecting entire software product families together. In Software Architecture for Product Families, experts from one of the world's most advanced software domain engineering projects share in-depth insights about the techniques that work -- and those that don't. The book offers a solutions-oriented, case-study approach covering the entire development lifecycle, based on advanced work done by three of Europe's leading technology companies and their academic partners. Discover the challenges that drive companies to consider architecting product families, and the new problems they encounter in doing so. Master concepts and terms that can be used to describe the architecture of a product family; then learn how to assess that architecture, and transform it into working applications. The authors also present chapter-length, real-world case studies of domain engineering projects at Nokia, Philips, and ABB.

Just Enough Software Architecture

Just Enough Software Architecture
Author: George Fairbanks
Publisher: Marshall & Brainerd
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2010-08-30
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0984618104

This is a practical guide for software developers, and different than other software architecture books. Here's why: It teaches risk-driven architecting. There is no need for meticulous designs when risks are small, nor any excuse for sloppy designs when risks threaten your success. This book describes a way to do just enough architecture. It avoids the one-size-fits-all process tar pit with advice on how to tune your design effort based on the risks you face. It democratizes architecture. This book seeks to make architecture relevant to all software developers. Developers need to understand how to use constraints as guiderails that ensure desired outcomes, and how seemingly small changes can affect a system's properties. It cultivates declarative knowledge. There is a difference between being able to hit a ball and knowing why you are able to hit it, what psychologists refer to as procedural knowledge versus declarative knowledge. This book will make you more aware of what you have been doing and provide names for the concepts. It emphasizes the engineering. This book focuses on the technical parts of software development and what developers do to ensure the system works not job titles or processes. It shows you how to build models and analyze architectures so that you can make principled design tradeoffs. It describes the techniques software designers use to reason about medium to large sized problems and points out where you can learn specialized techniques in more detail. It provides practical advice. Software design decisions influence the architecture and vice versa. The approach in this book embraces drill-down/pop-up behavior by describing models that have various levels of abstraction, from architecture to data structure design.

The Software Architect Elevator

The Software Architect Elevator
Author: Gregor Hohpe
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2020-04-08
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1492077496

As the digital economy changes the rules of the game for enterprises, the role of software and IT architects is also transforming. Rather than focus on technical decisions alone, architects and senior technologists need to combine organizational and technical knowledge to effect change in their company’s structure and processes. To accomplish that, they need to connect the IT engine room to the penthouse, where the business strategy is defined. In this guide, author Gregor Hohpe shares real-world advice and hard-learned lessons from actual IT transformations. His anecdotes help architects, senior developers, and other IT professionals prepare for a more complex but rewarding role in the enterprise. This book is ideal for: Software architects and senior developers looking to shape the company’s technology direction or assist in an organizational transformation Enterprise architects and senior technologists searching for practical advice on how to navigate technical and organizational topics CTOs and senior technical architects who are devising an IT strategy that impacts the way the organization works IT managers who want to learn what’s worked and what hasn’t in large-scale transformation

Software Architecture

Software Architecture
Author: Zheng Qin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2009-02-07
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 354074343X

Part of the new series, Advanced Topics in Science and Technology in China, this book aims to introduce the theoretical foundations, various sub-fields, current research, and practical methods of software architecture. First off, readers can acquire a basic knowledge of software architecture, including why software architecture is necessary. They are then shown how to describe a system’s architecture with formal language. The authors continue by delineating which architecture styles are popular in practice.