NAS Parallel Benchmarks: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Software

The '''NAS Parallel Benchmarks''' ('''NPB''') are a set of [[benchmark (computing)|benchmark]]s targetting performance evaluation of highly parallel [[supercomputer]]s. They are developed and maintained by the [[NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility|NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division]] (formerly the [[NASA]] Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program) based at the [[NASA Ames Research Center]]. NAS solicits performance results for NPB from all sources.<ref name="npbweb">{{cite web

|contributionname=The NAS Parallel Benchmarks 2.0

|author=[[NASA Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program]]

|developer=[[NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility|NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division]]

|release={{Start date|1991}}

|latest release version=3.3

|platform=[[Cross-platform]]

|status=Active

|website=http://www.nas.nasa.gov/Software/NPB/

}}

The '''NAS Parallel Benchmarks''' ('''NPB''') are a set of [[benchmark (computing)|benchmark]]s targetting performance evaluation of highly parallel [[supercomputer]]s. They are developed and maintained by the [[NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility|NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division]] (formerly the [[NASA]] [[NASA Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program|Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program]]) based at the [[NASA Ames Research Center]]. NAS solicits performance results for NPB from all sources.<ref name="npbweb">{{cite web

|title=NAS Parallel Benchmarks Changes

|url=http://www.nas.nasa.gov/Resources/Software/npb.html

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|publisher=NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

|year=March 1994

}}</ref> As a result, NPB were released in 1991<ref to address the ensuing lack of benchmarks applicable to highly parallel machines.name="nas95020">{{Citation

|last1=Bailey|first1=D.

|last2=Harris|first2=T.

|last3=Saphir|first3=W.

|last4=van der Wijngaart|first4=R.

|last5=Woo|first5=A.

|last6=Yarrow|first6=M.

|contribution=The NAS Parallel Benchmarks 2.0

|contribution-url=http://www.nas.nasa.gov/News/Techreports/1995/PDF/nas-95-020.pdf

|title=NAS Technical Report NAS-95-020

|publisher=NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

|year=December 1995

}}

</ref> to address the ensuing lack of benchmarks applicable to highly parallel machines.

===NPB 1===

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===NPB 2===

Since its release, NPB 1 displayed two major weaknesses. Firstly, due to its "paper and pencil" style of specification, computer vendors usually highly tuned their implementations so that their performance became difficult for scienctific programmers to attain. Moreover, many of these implementation were proprietary and not publicly available, effectively concealing their optimizing techniques. Secondly, problem sizes of NPB 1 lagged behind the development of supercomputers as the latter continued to evolve.<ref name="nas95020"/>{{Citation

|last1=Bailey|first1=D.

|last2=Harris|first2=T.

|last3=Saphir|first3=W.

|last4=van der Wijngaart|first4=R.

|last5=Woo|first5=A.

|last6=Yarrow|first6=M.

|contribution=The NAS Parallel Benchmarks 2.0

|contribution-url=http://www.nas.nasa.gov/News/Techreports/1995/PDF/nas-95-020.pdf

|title=NAS Technical Report NAS-95-020

|publisher=NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

|year=December 1995

}}

</ref>

NPB 2, released in 1996<ref name=npb2.2>{{Citation