ABSTRACT
Serial and parallel processing are two different ways in which information is passed around a computer system. Normal computers rely on serial methods, where each snippet of information follows another in a logical fashion until the result is achieved (Figure 43.1). Most software programs developed up until now rely on a serial approach in which the total set of instructions is laid out one after the other, and no part of the program can proceed until its turn arrives. A great deal of effort, time, and money has gone into production of processors, construction of software programs, and development of hardware for serial computing, and these will not be lightly jettisoned. Nevertheless, when it comes to speed of processing information, the parallel mode has many advantages and has given rise to a new type of computer called a transputer (Figure 43.2).
