computer science

SCinet

SCinet 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 SCinet rather than just read about it. In short: SCinet is the high-performance network built annually by volunteers in support of SC (formerly Supercomputing, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis). SCinet is the primary network for the yearly conference and is used by attendees and exhibitors to demonstrate and test high-performance computing and networking applications.

Key takeaways

SCinet 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 SCinet to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of SCinet from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

SCinet is the high-performance network built annually by volunteers in support of SC (formerly Supercomputing, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis). SCinet is the primary network for the yearly conference and is used by attendees and exhibitors to demonstrate and test high-performance computing and networking applications.

International Community SCinet is also a hub for the international networking community. It provides a platform to share the latest research, technologies, and demonstrations for networks, network technology providers, and even software developers who are in charge of supporting HPC communities at their own institutions or organizations.

Volunteers

Nearly 200 volunteers from educational institutions, high performance computing sites, equipment vendors, research and education networks, government agencies and telecommunications carriers collaborate via technology and in-person to design, build and operate SCinet. While many of these credentialed individuals have volunteered at SCinet for years, first timers join the team each year. They include international students and participants in the National Science Foundation-funded Women in IT Networking at SC (WINS) program. The 2017 SCinet team included women and men from high performance computing institutions in the U.S. and throughout the world.

History Originated in 1991 as an initiative within the SC conference to provide networking to attendees, SCinet has grown to become the "World's Fastest Network" during the duration of the conference. For 29 years, SCinet has provided SC attendees and the high performance computing (HPC) community with the innovative network platform necessary to internationally interconnect, transport, and display HPC research during SC. Historically, SCinet has been used as a platform to test networking technology and applications which have found their way into common use.

Research and development In the past years, SCinet deployed conference wide networking technologies such as ATM, FDDI, HiPPi before they were deployed commercially.

References

External links https://sc18.supercomputing.org/experience/scinet/ http://scinet.supercomputing.org http://www.supercomputing.org http://sc.delaat.net/

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with SCinet

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what SCinet 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 SCinet 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 SCinet 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 SCinet

In research: SCinet 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 SCinet 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: SCinet is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Computer networks, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for SCinet 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 SCinet in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what SCinet 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 SCinet out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is SCinet in simple terms?

Why does SCinet 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 SCinet?

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 SCinet.