Lectures in Parallel Computation (Paperback, Revised)

The foundations of parallel computation, especially the efficiency of computation, are the concern of this book. Distinguished international researchers have contributed fifteen chapters which together form a coherent stream taking the reader who has little prior knowledge of the field to a position of being familiar with leading edge issues. The book may also function as a source of teaching material and reference for researchers. The first part is devoted to the Parallel Random Access Machine (P-RAM) model of parallel computation. The initial chapters justify and define the model, which is then used for the development of algorithm design in a variety of application areas such as deterministic algorithms, randomisation and algorithm resilience. The second part deals with distributed memory models of computation. The question of efficiently implementing P-RAM algorithms within these models is addressed as are the immensely interesting prospects for general purpose parallel computation.