computer science

Sunway BlueLight

Sunway BlueLight 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 Sunway BlueLight rather than just read about it. In short: The Sunway BlueLight (神威蓝光) is a Chinese massively parallel supercomputer. It is the first publicly announced PFLOPS supercomputer using Sunway processors solely developed by the People's Republic of China.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The Sunway BlueLight (神威蓝光) is a Chinese massively parallel supercomputer. It is the first publicly announced PFLOPS supercomputer using Sunway processors solely developed by the People's Republic of China. It ranked #2 in the 2011 China HPC Top100, #14 on the November 2011 TOP500 list, and #39 on the November 2011 Green500 List. The machine was installed at National Supercomputing Jǐnán Center (国家超算济南中心) in September 2011 and was developed by National Parallel Computer Engineering Technology Research Center (国家并行计算机工程技术研究中心) and supported by Technology Department (科技部) 863 project. The water-cooled 9-rack system has 8704 ShenWei SW1600 processors (For the Top100 run 8575 CPUs were used, at 975 MHz each) organized as 34 super nodes (each consisting of 256 compute nodes), 150 TB main memory, 2 PB external storage, peak performance of 1.07016 PFLOPS, sustained performance of 795.9 TFLOPS, LINPACK efficiency 74.37%, and total power consumption 1074 kW. The Sunway BlueLight is ranked 103rd as of the November 2015 TOP500 list (ranked highest at 14th when it appeared on the list in November 2011; then 65th in the November 2014).

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sunway BlueLight

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sunway BlueLight 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 Sunway BlueLight 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 Sunway BlueLight 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 Sunway BlueLight

In research: Sunway BlueLight 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 Sunway BlueLight 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: Sunway BlueLight is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2011 in technology, China stubs, Computer hardware stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sunway BlueLight 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 Sunway BlueLight in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Sunway BlueLight in simple terms?

Why does Sunway BlueLight 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 Sunway BlueLight?

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 Sunway BlueLight.