ABSTRACT
Concurrent computing is the use of multiple, simultaneously executing processes or tasks to compute an answer or solve a problem. The original motivation for the development of concurrent computing techniques was for timesharing multiple users or jobs on a single computer. Modern workstations use this approach in a substantial manner. Another advantage of concurrent computing, and the reason for much of the current attention to the subject, is that it seems obvious that solving a problem using multiple computers is faster than using just one. Similarly, there is a powerful economic argument for using multiple inexpensive computers to solve a problem that normally requires an expensive supercomputer. Additionally, the use of multiple computers can provide fault tolerance.
