What is parallelism in software?
Parallel programming is a way of making a computer do many things at once. But wait – isn't this what already happens daily? Yes and no. Most common processors today are capable of executing more than one task at the same time – and we mean at the same time. However, this is only the first requirement for parallel software. The second is to make at least some of the processor cores work on the same problem in a coordinated way. Let's consider an example.Imagine that you're taking on a big task, such as sorting a huge pile of books. Instead of doing it alone, you ask a group of friends to help. Each friend takes a small part of the pile and sorts it. You all work at the same time, and the job gets done much faster. This is similar to how parallel programming works: it breaks a big problem into smaller pieces and solves them at the same time using multiple cores.Of course, this example was chosen because it has a...
