PRAM As A Model
This model is unrealistic ... why?
- Nonlocal memory cannot be referenced in constant time independent of P ... a matter of physics
- Contention and competiton for resources matters in all practical computations
But is it useful?
- “By idealizing the machine it is easier for a programmer to formulate an intial parallel algorithm, and from that transform it to something practical”
- Hardware can be built to make it come true sometimes ... e.g. multithreading; Need slack
- Theoretically interesting