The word "parallelize" (UK: parallelise) means to make things parallel. It is pronounced /ˈpær.ə.lel.aɪz/ (PA-ruh-lel-ize) in American English and /ˈpær.ə.lel.aɪz/ (PA-ruh-lel-ise) in British English. The first syllable is stressed, followed by the schwa sound in the second syllable, then the stress is on the third syllable. The spelling of "parallelize" follows the rules of English phonetics and word formation. It adds the suffix "-ize" to the noun "parallel" to create a verb.
Parallelise is a verb derived from the term "parallel," which refers to the occurrence of two or more things happening or existing at the same time, side by side and in a consistent manner. When we apply this concept to the field of computing or programming, parallelising essentially involves dividing a task or computational process into smaller parts that can be executed simultaneously.
In the context of computer science, to parallelise means to convert a serial or sequential program into a parallel program. This process entails breaking down a program into smaller tasks or subroutines that can be executed concurrently on multiple processing units, such as multiple cores of a processor or even on separate computers within a network. The main objective of parallelisation is to optimize the performance and efficiency of a program by distributing the workload across various processing resources and reducing the execution time.
Parallelisation is a commonly employed technique in high-performance computing, where it plays a vital role in enabling efficient use of computational resources and achieving significant speedups in the execution of computationally intensive tasks. It is particularly useful for tasks that exhibit inherent parallelism, where independent subtasks can be executed simultaneously without requiring excessive synchronization or communication between them.
In summary, to parallelise is to transform a sequential program into a parallel program, enabling multiple parts of a computational task to be executed concurrently, thereby enhancing performance, reducing execution time, and utilizing compute resources efficiently.
The word "parallelize" is formed by adding the suffix "-ize" to the noun "parallel". The noun "parallel" comes from the Latin word "parallelus", which ultimately derives from the Greek word "parallēlos". In Greek, "parallēlos" is a compound word formed by combining "para", meaning "beside", and "allēlōn", meaning "one another". It refers to things that are side by side and never intersecting. The suffix "-ize" is a productive suffix in English that is used to form verbs from nouns, adjectives, and other words. Thus, "parallelize" means to make or become parallel, particularly in the context of computing and programming when referring to parallel computing tasks.