Thalweg: A framework for programming 1,000 machines with 1,000 cores

While modern large-scale computing tasks have grown to span many machines, each with many cores, traditional programming models have not kept up with these advancements, resulting in difficulty exploiting these computing resources with only modest programmer effort. Thalweg seeks to address this breakdown in several ways. It provides a model for designing algorithms that have the potential to scale to multiple cores and machines, with subsequent optimization by software engineers. Based on this concept, Thalweg presents an API for handling these algorithms, for transferring data to and from nodes and coprocessors, and for verifying the correct operation of the hardware. Finally, Thalweg presents a set of concepts and a laboratory framework for pedagogical use that will educate the next generation of software engineers to operate in a world in which multi-core and distributed computing are everywhere.