Subject: New book on Parkbench

From: Prof Roger Hockney <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 95 14:41:28 GMT

I hope members of the committee will forgive me using
their e-mail for a little announcement, but I think it
will be of interest to most of you:
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          I have recently published a book with SIAM, entitled:
 
                    "The Science of Computer Benchmarking"
                              Roger W. Hockney
                             ISBN 0-89871-363-3
          
          Available at the SIAM stand, Supercomputing95, San Diego
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          Published November 1995, it consists of 129 pages and is 
          a softcover volume at US$ 21.25. Those of you interested 
          in computer benchmarking and performance analysis should 
          find the book valuable. It is a tutorial exposition of 
          the methodology and low-level benchmarks of the Parkbench 
          committee's report on parallel computer benchmarking, 
          together with the dimensionless theory of scaling and the 
          graphical presentation of results. It is suitable as a 
          teaching text for tutorials, advanced undergraduate and 
          MSc courses. The chapter headings are:

          Chapter-1: "Introduction" - survey of Parkbench committee 
                     and other benchmarking activities, and the 
                     usefulness of benchmarking.   

          Chapter-2: "Methodology" - units, symbols and performance
                     metrics with examples. Critique of Speedup.

          Chapter-3: "Low-level Parameters and Benchmarks" -
                     tutorial definition of the r-infinity and
                     n-half performance parameters, and the 
                     benchmarks to measure them.

          Chapter-4: "Computational Similarity and Scaling" - 
                     dimensionless theory of scaling with the
                     principle of "Computational Similarity".

          Chapter-5: "Presentation of Results" - The Univ. of 
                     Tennessee's "Performance Database Server" and
                     the Univ. of Southampton's "Graphical
                     Benchmark Information Service". 

          Prepayment is required and shipping charge will apply.
          Please contact SIAM for further ordering information: 
                            [email-masked]

          Or the author regarding the book itself:
                            Roger W. Hockney 
                (Professor Emeritus, Reading University, UK)
               (Visiting Professor, Southampton University,UK)
          e-mail:        [email-masked]
          Ordinary mail: 4 Whitewalls Close, Compton, Newbury,
                         England, UK.
          Telephone: +44 (1635) 578 679 (also fax after speaking).     

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