Tutorial: Supercomputer architecture

In the late 1960's, not many people had direct experience in designing or working with supercomputers, but at least there was little confusion over what the term “supercomputer” meant. In those days the main criterion for qualifying as a supercomputer was the number of instructions handled per unit time. Today, we know a good deal more about this category of machine, but it's getting harder and harder to define the term — mainly because of its growth in number and variety. The proliferation of processors has created a need for an orderly, workable scheme of classifications.