CMSC416 Introduction to Parallel Computing

What does it say on Testudo?

Introduction to parallel computing. Topics include programming for shared memory and distributed memory parallel architectures, and fundamental issues in design, development, and performance analysis of parallel programs.

Why did I take this class??

I didn't really want to register for a system course. My options were CMSC412 (OS), CMSC416 (this), or CMSC470 (NLP). I tried signing up for CMSC470, but they said CMSC330 was required and I was too lazy to pursue an exception (NLP is cool for machine translation, but why work on machine translation when you can just use your brain to translate? thats my opinion). CMSC412 was already waitlisting by the time I changed my schedule, and it also seems like an intensive class that would not be fun to do with other classes like BMGT830 and CMSC427. If it weren't for the 2:00pm TuTh conflict with CMSC427, I would have wanted to take CMSC417 or CMSC430. I was also considering CMSC433 before switching it out for PHYS467. To edit later: hopefully my opinion on this class with change after taking it, it does seem like a class with a lot of potential to be interesting at least. It seems like a decent alternative to CMSC412 which feels like it should be required for CS majors.

Summary