Of all the exponentials in the computing industry, the typical time for bandwidth to double is the smallest: hence, the computing environment of tomorrow will not be anything like the stand-alone environment of yesterday. The infrastructure is changing drastically, presenting unique opportunities as well as challenges for applications and application scientists.

Despite this rapid onset of distributed computing, the majority of scientists still use the same programming methods that they are accustomed to using on isolated computers. This Theme will examine how scientific applications can be programmed such that they are able to easily utilise a distributed infrastructure, and how computer scientists can help design and implement of applications that are shielded from future trends and changes in computing environments.

The Theme aims to address these issues by focusing on the following questions: What are the main barriers to wide-spread distributed High Performance Computing applications? Is there a level at which simple yet powerful programming abstractions can be effective in distributed environments? Should the trend towards domain specific e-Infrastructure continue, or is there a better path to follow?

To read the original proposal for this theme click here.

To read the Mid-term Report for this theme click here.

THEME DURATION

Start Date: 1 March 2007

End Date: 31 August 2009