Abstract
Since 1990, the Computer Science Department at Rochester Institute of Technology has offered a concentration in parallel computing. This concentration is available both to undergraduates and to students studying for the masters degree.This paper documents our experiences with the selection of hardware and software to support our parallel computing program. We describe our concentration, and we report on the networking established between Rochester Institute of Technology and other colleges and universities, designed to provide support for educators who are attempting to introduce parallel computing into their curricula. Finally, we look at what we might do differently if we were starting today.
- {1} D. Arnow, "XDP: A Simple Library for Teaching a Distributed Programming Module", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 1, March, 1995. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {2} T. Braunl, "Parallaxis-III: A Language for Structured Data-Parallel Programming", Proceedings of the First International Conference on Algorithms and Architectures for Parallel Processing, ICA3PP-95, Brisbane, Australia, April 1995. Longer version available through "anonymous ftp" from ftp.informatik.unistuttgart.de in/pub/p3/manual.ps.gz.Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- {3} R. M. Butler, R. E. Eggen, and S. R. Wallace, "Introducing Parallel Processing at the Undergraduate Level", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 20, No. 1, February 1988. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {4} N. Carriero and D. Gelernter, How to Write Parallel Programs, MIT Press, 1990. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {5} R. Duckworth, "Introducing Parallel Processing Concepts Using the MASPAR MP-1 Computer", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 1, March, 1994. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {6} A. L. Fisher and T. Gross, "Teaching the Programming of Parallel Computers", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 23, No. 1, March 1991. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {7} A. L. Fisher and T. Gross, 'Teaching Empirical Performance Analysis of Parallel Programs", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 1, March 1992. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {8} Foley, Van Dam, Feiner, Hughes, and Philips, Introduction to Computer Graphics, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1994. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {9} Geist, Beguelin, Donagarra, Jiang, Manchek, and Sunderam, PVM 3 User's Guide and Reference Manual, September 1994. Available by sending email to [email protected] with the message send index from pvm3.Google Scholar
- {11} R. Harlan and J. Akulis, "Parallel Threads: Parallel Computation Labs for CS 3 and CS 4", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 1, March, 1995. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {12} J. Hartman and D. Sanders, "Teaching a Course in Parallel Processing with Limited Resources", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 23, No. 1, March 1991. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {13} J. Hartman and D. Sanders, "Data Parallel Programming: A Transition for Serial to Parallel Computing", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 25, No. 1, March 1993. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {14} B. P. Hillam, "Integrating and Array Processor Into a 'Hands-On' Computer Science Curriculum", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 22, No. 2, June 1990. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {15} D. C. Hyde, "A Parallel Processing Course for Undergraduates", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 21, No. 1, February 1989. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {16} L. Jin and L. Yang, "A Laboratory for Teaching Parallel Computing on Parallel Structures", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 1, March, 1995. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {17} D. John, "Integration of Parallel Computation into Introductory Computer Science", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 1, March 1992. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {18} D. John, "NSF Supported Projects: Parallel Computation as an Integrated Component in the Undergraduate Curriculum in Computer Science", SIGCSE Bulletin , Vol. 26, No. 1, March, 1994. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {19} D. Kotz, "A Data-Parallel Programming Library for Education (DAPPLE)", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 1, March, 1995. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {20} F. T. Leighton, Introduction to Parallel Algorithms and Architectures: Arrays, Trees, Hypercubes, Morgan-Kaufmann, 1992. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {21} E. Luque, R. Suppi, and J. Sorribes, "A Quantitative Approach for Parallel Computing Teaching", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 1, March 1992. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {22} M. J. Meredith, "Introducing Parallel Computing into the Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum: A Progress Report", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 1, March 1992. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {23} C. Nevison, "An Undergraduate Parallel Processing Laboratory", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 20, No. 1, February 1988. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {24} C. Nevison, D. Hyde, G. Schneider and P. Tymann (editors), Laboratories for Parallel Computing, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 1994. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {25} Occam 2 Toolset Reference Manual, IMS D0305- DOCA, INMOS, Ltd., 1993.Google Scholar
- {26} Pact Parallel C Language Reference Manual, PACT, Foulkeslaan 87, 2625 RB Delft, The Netherlands, 1992.Google Scholar
- {27} M. Reek, "A Top-down Approach to Teaching Programming", Twenty-sixth SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Vol. 27, No. 1, March 1995, pp. 10-14. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {28} A. Rifkin, "eText: An Interactive Environment for Learning Parallel Programming", SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 1, March, 1994. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {29} J. Wexler, Concurrent Programming in Occam 2, Halstead Press, 1989. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {30} L. Yang and L. Jin, "Integrating Parallel Algorithm Design with Parallel Machine Models, SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 1, March, 1995. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- {31} G. Zorpette, "Supercomputing, An Introduction". IEEE Spectrum, September, 1992.Google Scholar
Index Terms
Experiences in teaching parallel computing—five years later
Recommendations
Teaching how to teach computational thinking
ITiCSE 2018: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science EducationComputational Thinking is argued to be an essential skill for the workforce of the 21st century. As a skill, Computational Thinking should be taught in all schools, employing computational ideas integrated into other disciplines. Up until now, questions ...
Teaching TAs To Teach: Strategies for TA Training
SIGCSE '20: Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education"The only thing that scales with undergrads is undergrads". As Computer Science course enrollments have grown, there has been a necessary increase in the number of undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants (TAs, and UTAs). TA duties often extend ...
K-12 Teachers Experiences with Computing: A Case Study
ITiCSE '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science EducationWe offered professional development to in-service K-12 teachers. Teachers learned programming, and how to teach programming. During the subsequent academic year, they taught programming in their schools. We interviewed the teachers to better understand ...






Comments