Parallel MATLAB: Doing it Right

MATLAB is one of the most widely used mathematical computing environments in technical computing. It is an interactive environment that provides high-performance computational routines and an easy-to-use, C-like scripting language. It started out as an interactive interface to EISPACK and LINPACK and has remained a serial program. In 1995, C. Moler of Mathworks argued that there was no market at the time for a parallel MATLAB. But times have changed and we are seeing increasing interest in developing a parallel MATLAB, from both academic and commercial sectors. In a recent survey, 27 parallel MATLAB projects have been identified. We expand upon that survey and discuss the approaches the projects have taken to parallelize MATLAB. Also, we describe innovative features in some of the parallel MATLAB projects. Then we will conclude with an idea of a "right" parallel MATLAB. Finally we will give an example of what we think is a "right" parallel MATLAB: MATLAB*P.