What is MPI?

MPI stands for Message Passing Interface.

The goal of MPI, simply stated, is to develop a widely used standard for writing message-passing programs.

Explicit Message Passing in
Application Programs on
MIMD distributed Memory Concurrent Computers

As such the interface should establish a
practical,
portable,
efficient, and
flexible
standard for message passing.

Slide 38 of SIAM Tutorial, Jack Dongarra UT/ORNL. (Updated 01/31/95)