Today's most complete reference on the rapidly evolving software technology used in parallel and distributed computing Designing, developing, and utilizing the kinds of versatile computing environments that will effectively support today's complex scientific and engineering applications is an ongoing research challenge. Tools and Environments for Parallel and Distributed Computing is the first comprehensive survey of the successful computing methodologies used in today's scientific communities, including both a summary of past techniques and an introduction to future technologies. Covering a wide variety of approaches to parallel and distributed computing, with emphasis on such factors as tradeoffs between performance and cost, the authors present a thorough survey of today's most promising software applications, their strengths and limitations, including:

• Grid computing
• Message-passing tools
• Distributed shared-memory tools
• Distributed object computing tools

Each methodology is supported by detailed case studies. An important hands-on reference for researchers, educators, and practitioners in the field, this is a practical guide for the development and selection of today's scientific and engineering software systems.