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Architecture in Parallel Processing

28 flashcardsby —Griffith—
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1
What is serial computation?
Runs on a single CPU, one instruction at a time
2
What is parallel computing?
The simultaneous use of multiple CPUs solving parts concurrently
3
Which computer marked the advent of supercomputing in the 1960s?
CDC 6600
4
What is data parallelism?
Distributing subsets of data across processors and performing the same operation
5
What is task parallelism?
Distributing different tasks across processors to run independently
6
What is fine-grained parallelism?
Dividing tasks into small units executed in parallel
7
What is coarse-grained parallelism?
Dividing tasks into larger units with less frequent communication
8
In Flynn's taxonomy, what is SISD?
A serial computer with one instruction and one data stream
9
What does SIMD stand for?
Single Instruction, Multiple Data
10
Which category in Flynn's taxonomy is most common today?
MIMD (Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data)
11
What is a multi-core processor?
A processor with two or more independent cores in one chip
12
Who contributed to conceptual beginnings of parallel computing in the 1940s–50s?
John von Neumann
13
Which IBM computer was part of the early developments in the 1950s?
IBM 7030 Stretch
14
Which supercomputer defined the 1960s era?
CDC 6600
15
What innovation was introduced in the 1970s with the Cray-1?
Vector processing
16
Which 1970s machine pioneered array processing?
ILLIAC IV
17
What architecture type was introduced widely in the 1980s?
MIMD
18
Which parallel programming standard was developed in the 1980s?
MPI (Message Passing Interface)
19
What trend defined the 1990s in processors?
Growth of multi-core and many-core processors
20
What hardware gained importance in parallel processing in the 1990s?
GPUs
21
What became ubiquitous in the 2000s–present?
Parallelism in consumer CPUs and GPUs
22
Which emerging technologies are explored in modern parallel processing?
Cloud computing, AI/ML, quantum computing, neuromorphic computing
23
What is a many-core processor?
A processor with tens or hundreds of cores
24
What are many-core processors designed for?
Massively parallel workloads
25
What is a GPU architecture specialized for?
Massively parallel processing of data blocks
26
What kind of parallelism do GPUs excel at?
Data parallelism
27
What are common applications of GPU architectures?
Image and video processing, AI/ML, simulations
28
How do GPUs differ from CPUs in design?
GPUs have thousands of simple cores optimized for parallel tasks
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