Parallel computing
lastmod 2025-08-09created 2014-02-168 edits
Parallel computing, or parallel computation, is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously. It is mainly used to solve large, complex problems by dividing them into smaller ones and solving them at the same time in parallel, and there are many methods and types of parallel computing. Examples include bit-level, instruction-level, data, and task parallelism. Parallel computing has long been used mainly in high-performance computing, and it gained more attention after awareness of the problem grew as processor frequencies approached their physical limits. Recently, along with growing interest in heat generation and power consumption in computer use, it has drawn attention as a dominant paradigm in computer architecture, centered on multi-core processors.
Concurrent vs Parallel
Concurrency is a property of the program, and parallel execution is a property of the machine. (Concurrenty is a property of the prgoram and parallel execution is a property of the machine)