Introduction to Parallel Computation
Terminology: Threads and Processes
High Performance Computing
Memory Access
Program Design
Data Communication
Efficiency
Thinking Big
Quiz

Terminology: Threads and Processes

Christopher J. Cameron, Steve Lantz
Cornell Center for Advanced Computing

Revisions: 3/2022, 9/2014 (original)

This topic defines fundamental parallel programming terminology by identifying the technical terms associated with the intuitive concepts developed in the Introduction to Parallel Computation topic.

Objectives

After you complete this topic, you should be able to:

  • Define thread and process as they are used in computing
  • Explain the differences between serial and parallel code
  • Define the term task in terms of high performance computing
  • Distinguish between distributed memory parallelism and shared memory parallelism
Prerequisites

This topic assumes a basic understanding of serial (single-threaded) programming and familiarity with computer terminology.

 
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