computer science

Research Computing Services

Research Computing Services is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Research Computing Services rather than just read about it. In short: Research Computing Services (separated in August 2007 from the former Manchester Computing at the University of Manchester), provides the focus for the University of Manchester's activities in supercomputing or high-performance computing, grid computing or e-science and computational science. Research Computing Services activities include services, training and research & development.

Key takeaways

Research Computing Services belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Research Computing Services to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Research Computing Services from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Research Computing Services (separated in August 2007 from the former Manchester Computing at the University of Manchester), provides the focus for the University of Manchester's activities in supercomputing or high-performance computing, grid computing or e-science and computational science. Research Computing Services activities include services, training and research & development.

Supercomputers The University of Manchester has been home to many supercomputers, starting from the 1948 Manchester Baby - the world's first stored program computer. Others have included CDC7600 (1972, and a second in 1977), a CDC Cyber 205, VP1200, VPX and 240/10. The CSAR service (see below) supercomputers included a 576 PE Cray T3E-1200E (1998, upgraded to 816PE in 2000), and SGI Origin 3000 (2001) and Altix (2003) systems. More recently some large clusters (e.g., the 200 processor Dell EM64T cluster) have been installed.

National Computing Services Research Computing Services and its predecessors (Manchester Computing etc.) have been providing (high performance) computing services nationally in the UK since the 1970s. Manchester Computing operated the UK's 1998-2006 national supercomputer service CSAR with SGI and CSC Ltd. It currently operates other national computer services in the UK, including the Access Grid Support Centre (AGSC) and, as part of consortia, the UK National Grid Service (NGS) and North West Grid.

Research Centres Research Computing Services is a part of several research centres including E-Science North West (ESNW) Archived 20 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine, and the UK's National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS).

References

External links Research Computing Services web site CSAR National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS) Access Grid Support Centre (AGSC) UK National Grid Service (NGS) North West Grid

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Research Computing Services

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Research Computing Services claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Research Computing Services before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Research Computing Services ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Research Computing Services

In research: Research Computing Services appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Research Computing Services in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Research Computing Services is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Computational science, Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom, Research institutes in Manchester, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Research Computing Services outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Research Computing Services in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Research Computing Services means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Research Computing Services out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Research Computing Services in simple terms?

Why does Research Computing Services matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Research Computing Services?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Research Computing Services.