Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.parallel,comp.unix.aix
From: pfister@austin.ibm.com (Pfister)
Subject: New Book: IN SEARCH OF CLUSTERS
Organization: IBM Austin, RISC System/6000 Division
Date: 21 Dec 1995 05:05:49 GMT
Message-ID: <4at1r1$19eg@ausnews.austin.ibm.com>


I'm posting this here because readers of this newsgroup have requested
information about this book from me in the past, when it was being
developed, after I mentioned it in other posting contexts. (Some of them
even became reviewers.)

Modified copy from the back cover of the book:

"In Search of Clusters" explains a popular but misunderstood form of
parallel computing: the cluster of computers.  It also explains and
contrasts the other widely used form of parallel processing, the
symmetric multiprocessor, and emerging "NUMA" systems (non-uniform
memory access).

     Anyone using or designing high-performance computer systems will
profit from this book and greatly enjoy reading it.  It is very easily
understood and often witty, yet will interest experts.

     Topics covered include:

   * how clusters are an invisible, multi-billion dollar segment of
     the computer industry
   * why clusters are growing in importance and visibility
   * hardware and software elements of clusters, including the first
     serious discussion of "single system image"
   * key incompabilities in programming clusters and symmetric
     multiprocessors
   * comparison between clusters and symmetric multiprocessors
   * how popular benchmarks mislead users and designers of clusters

Data:
 "In Search of Clusters," by Gregory F. Pfister, ISBN 0-13-437625-0,
  published by Prentice-Hall, 415 pages, $42.

********FOR MORE INFORMATION, including the table of contents,
preface, and ordering information, see the Prentice-Hall web site:
http://www.prenhall.com

Unfortunately, their search engine doesn't work; it doesn't find the
book under "cluster".  To find the book's web page, follow this from
http://www.prenhall.com :
     computer science -> parallel programming -> In Search of Clusters

or, if your web browser is lower-level html (Mosaic) like mine and can't
display the tables used, go directly to the web page for the book:

http://www.prenhall.com/~ray/013/437624/ptr/43762-4.html

Hope you enjoy it. The book has already been adopted as a text in
parallel processing at several colleges (although that was *NOT* its
primary target), and so far has been the reason for one "keynote" and
one "featured speaker" invitation for the author at major conferences.
Also -- readers have been known to have nearby people ask them what
they're finding so hilarious. Check it out.

Greg
-- 
________________________________________________________________________
Greg Pfister           |     My Opinion Only     | Phone: (512) 838-8338
pfister@austin.ibm.com | Sic Crustulum Frangitur |   Fax: (512) 838-5989


