IS&T RCS Tutorial - Introduction to High-Performance Computing

High-performance computing (HPC) or supercomputing (SC) refers to the practice of aggregating computing power in order to solve large problems in science, engineering, or business. In this tutorial, the following questions will be discussed: Why a computer cluster is necessary? What is the basic structure of a computer cluster? What resources does an HPC system provide? How to measure computer performance? What are the most powerful computers in the world? What scientific disciplines benefit from HPC? What is parallel computing? In particular, the nation-wide HPC resource XSEDE (eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment) will be introduced. This tutorial will also guide you to other RCS tutorials being offered this semester that might be helpful to your particular study or research work. Note that this tutorial has no hands-on exercises