We all are well aware of the term computers. Computers are machines that are designed to perform a variety of operations automatically. Earlier the computers were meant to perform only calculations but with time, we can see a major transformation in computer systems. Today computers are used in every area to perform respective tasks. However, we have different types of computers which are designed to perform different activities. One of them is a supercomputer. Let’s have a detailed look at it in this essay.
10 Lines Essay on Supercomputer
1) Supercomputers are specialized computers designed to perform high-level computation.
2) In the 1960s, the first supercomputer Control Data Corporation (CDC) 6600 came into existence.
3) Supercomputers are widely used in the field of weather forecasting, cryptography, data mining, etc.
4) They are huge systems with multiple processing units.
5) PARAM Siddhi-AI, Pratyush, and Mihir are the fastest Indian supercomputer.
6) Supercomputers mainly use Linux operating system.
7) FLOPS (Floating Point Operations per Second) is used to measure the high performance of supercomputers.
8) The Japanese supercomputer Fugaku is the fastest supercomputer with 442 PFLOPS from Jan 2020 to November 2021.
9) Supercomputers are expensive computers used for complex computation.
10) General-purpose and special-purpose are the two types of supercomputers.
Long Essay on Supercomputer Essay in English
Here, I’m providing an essay on supercomputers in very simple words. This topic is very useful for students of all classes. You can go through this essay to know various aspects of the topic.
1000 Words Essay – Supercomputer : A Class of Extremely Powerful Computers
Introduction
There are many types of computers like mini-computers, supercomputers, microcomputers, mainframe computers, etc. Supercomputers are computers with superpowers. Many countries including China, the United States, and many others worked hard to accomplish the first supercomputer with speed in exaFLOP. India also designed its supercomputer.
Supercomputer –The Most Powerful Computers
As the name suggests, Supercomputers are computers with super or high performance. They are mainly used in areas that require high computational power. Supercomputers are required mainly in Scientific computing, a field that involves higher arithmetic calculations.
Supercomputers are made up of I/O systems, memory, and processors. However, the supercomputers have more than one CPU (Central Processing Unit) interconnected to each other.
History
In the early 1960s, the term Supercomputer came into existence. During this time the first two supercomputers were designed. The LARC (Livermore Atomic Research Computer) is considered the first supercomputer built by UNIVAC for the US Navy Research Center. Another supercomputer is IBM 7030 Stretch built by IBM. It was developed for the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The third supercomputer was Atlas built by a team led by Tom Kilburn. The concept of time-sharing was developed in this supercomputer so that more than one program can be executed at a time.
The transition of transistors from germanium to silicon was developed in 1964 when Seymour Cray introduced CDC 6600. It also resolved the problem of overheating and becoming the fastest supercomputer.
After a few years in 1976, Cray discovered Cray-1 which was considered the most successful supercomputer. Later, Cray-2 was also developed in 1985 consisting of eight processing units with high speed.
Specifications/ Characteristics of Supercomputer
- They have a high storage capacity.
- The speed of the supercomputer is measured in FLOPS (Floating Point Operations per second).
- The most common Operating system used in a supercomputer is Linux.
- It uses traditional programming languages like Fortran, C, and C++.
- Supercomputers usually suffer from the problem of overheating.
- It consists of multiple CPUs.
- Multiple programs can be run at the same time.
Types of Supercomputers
Supercomputers can be broadly categorized into two types. They are:
General-purpose Supercomputers: The general-purpose supercomputer is categorized into three categories. They are vector processing machines, tightly connected cluster computers, and commodity computers.
Special-purpose Supercomputers: The special-purpose supercomputers are designed to perform a particular or special task. For example, IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer won the chess match against the famous chess player of that time.
Supercomputer in India
During the 1980s, India tried to purchase supercomputers for various activities like academic and weather forecasting. However, the country fails to purchase supercomputers and decided to promote the development of supercomputers in India. According to the ranking of supercomputers, a list is generated which holds the top 500 supercomputers across the world. In this list, three supercomputers are from India.
- PARAM Siddhi-AI: The PARAM Siddhi-AI supercomputer holds 89th rank in the global ranking list. It is the fastest supercomputer in India. Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) is responsible for its development.
- Pratyush: The Pratyush supercomputer holds 107th rank in the global ranking list. The owner of this supercomputer is the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.
- Mihir: The Mihir supercomputer is ranked 187in the top 500 list of supercomputers. The owner of Mihir is National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting. It provides high computing performance.
Supercomputer Vs Normal Computer
Purpose: Normal computers are responsible for performing arithmetical and logical operations and hence also known as general-purpose machines. Whereas, supercomputers are designed to perform high-level computations. They are specialized computers.
Speed: The speed of supercomputers is much faster than those personal computers or any other normal computers. Supercomputers are capable of carrying out millions of operations in a very short period of time.
Performance: The performance of computers is measured in MIPS (Million Instruction per Second), whereas the performance of supercomputers is measured in FLOPS (Floating-Point Operations per Second).
Cost: Supercomputers are much expensive than normal computers. Today most of the population can afford personal computers but supercomputers are beyond the reach of common people.
Applications: Supercomputers are mainly used in the areas of national security, weather forecasting, big data analysis, etc. however, computers are used in every field like education, ticket booking, banking, etc.
Usage of Supercomputer
Supercomputers are designed for performing high-level computations. They can not be used to perform tasks like general computing, app hosting, or running a website. Some of the application areas of Supercomputers are as follows:
Petroleum Industry: Supercomputers are widely used for oil and gas exploration. They are used to find the exact location for the establishment of gas and oil reserves. Another work includes the interpretation of seismic data.
Weather Forecasting: Today we get exact weather and climate report only due to supercomputers. Predicting weather through computing is quite tough. However, it also requires HPC or High-Power Computing. This can only be achieved through supercomputers.
Artificial Intelligence: The field of Artificial Intelligence is loaded with various typical tasks. In other words, high computing performance is required which can only be achieved through supercomputers.
Monitoring Covid Spread: The fastest supercomputer of 2019, the IBM Summit played an important role in monitoring the spread of the Corona Virus in the world.
Cryptography: To encrypt any data or code supercomputer will be a great choice. Supercomputers are also used for national security; encryption and decryption of secret codes often known as cryptography. It is highly used in the process of cryptocurrency mining.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Some advantages of supercomputers are as follows:
High Speed: Supercomputers possess high speed. They are mainly used because of this benefit. When compared the supercomputers are much faster than normal computers.
Decrypt Password: Any type of password can be decrypted using supercomputers. Besides this, it can also guess the password of the system. Therefore, it is good from the security point of view.
High Computational Power: Supercomputers are built to perform high computational tasks. Due to this feature, supercomputers are responsible for producing good results.
Some disadvantages of supercomputers are as follows:
Very Expensive: Supercomputers are very expensive and are not easily affordable by the common public. They are mainly made up of large organizations.
Storage: Supercomputers need more space. They can usually require an area of 1000 square feet. Due to their huge size, storing this type of computer will be an issue.
High Power Consumption: Due to their high computation power and speed, the requirement of power is also increased. Supercomputers consume higher electricity than other computers.
Conclusion
Most of the developing countries including India are trying their best to develop very high-performance supercomputers. They are responsible for saving many lives by alerting them from upcoming disasters, they help to predict the weather which solves most of the problems. They are also helpful in establishing new resources as well as ensuring the safety of the public. They play an important role in the development of our country and hence, the system needs to pay special attention in this field.
Related Link :
- Essay on Cryptocurrency and Issues Related To It
- Essay on Blockchain
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FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions on Supercomputer
Ans. As of June 2021 report, Japan’s Fugaku is considered the world’s fastest supercomputer.
Ans. China has 188 supercomputers listed in the top 500.
Ans. Fugaku, Summit, and Sierra are the top three supercomputers.
Ans. PARAllel Machine is the full form of PARAM Supercomputer.