Brainy Blog from Supercomputing Firm

Proving that the blogosphere isn’t all about Paris Hilton or even Perez Hilton, Waltham, MA-based Interactive Supercomputing this week launched a new multi-author blog on high-performance computing called Parallel Lounge. With contributors including MIT computer scientist Alan Edelman and Cray Research veteran Steve Reinhardt, Interactive Supercomputing’s vice president of joint research, it’s the only Boston blog where you are likely to find such gems as:

Compare element-wise multiplication in a for-loop

for idx=1:n
y(idx) = 2*x(idx);
end

to a vectorized multiplication

y = 2*x;

In the for-loop, a command is sent from client to server in each iteration. This totals 1000 client-server calls, slowing down the code. Not only is the vectorized code simpler, but it requires only one client-server call.

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/