Architectural models and design methodologies for general-purpose highly-parallel computers

The main research issues and problems in the area of general-purpose, massively parallel MIMD computers are reviewed. It is shown that the successful exploitation of this class of systems depends on the ability to define and experiment with design methodologies taking into account the following aspects: abstract machine architecture, physical machine architecture, parallelizing and restructuring tools, and machine independent parallel languages. Research experience in this area and particularly with the Pisa Parallel Processing Project is reported.<
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