Mathematica [GridMathematica, CD Windows, Mac, Linux (not Itanium)]

gridMathematica provides innovative parallel computing functionality, with features such as the following:

• Parallelisation at the Mathematica language level
• Support for multiprocessor machines, clusters, and grids
• Machine-independence--user code is completely portable
• High-performance MathLink communication protocol optimised for all common configurations
• Efficient, adaptive load balancing
• Scheduling takes processor speed and communication latency into account
• User-programmable scheduling for problem-specific adaptation
• Automatic failure recovery and reassignment of stranded processes
• Support for tracing and debugging
• Speculative parallelisation for nondeterministic problems
• Parallel applications can be simulated and tested on a personal computer

gridMathematica supports all Mathematica functionality--including the world's largest collection of advanced algorithms for numeric and symbolic computation, discrete mathematics, statistics, data analysis, graphics, visualisation, and general programming--as well as all Mathematica application packages. Some specific features of interest include:

• Multi-paradigm symbolic programming language with support programming constructs such as for procedural, functional, list-based, object-oriented, and symbolic
• System-wide dynamic interactivity, allowing the creation of full-function dynamic interfaces for arbitrary objects, including 2D and 3D graphics, math, tables, text, etc.
• Automatic creation of high-fidelity, high-impact 2D, 3D, and dynamic visualisations of functions and data, with 25+ new core visualisation types and 50+ new general visualisation options
• Over two gigabytes of load-on-demand curated data for math, physics, chemistry, finance, geography, linguistics, and more
• New level of automation for handling external data, including support for hundreds of formats and subformats across a full range of areas
• Symbolic interface construction for immediate creation of arbitrary interfaces from simple programs
• Automated computational aesthetics, with algorithmic optimisation for visual presentation
• Unification of active graphics and controls with flowing text and input
• Automatic precision control and support for exact integers of arbitrary length, rationals, floating-point real and complex numbers, and arbitrary-precision real and complex numbers
• Automatic algorithm selection for optimal performance
• High-speed numerical linear algebra with performance equal to specialised numeric libraries
• High-performance optimisation and linear programming functions
• Wide-ranging support for sparse matrices
• Highly optimised binary data I/O allowing fast import of any binary data
• Industrial-strength string manipulation
• Built-in universal database connectivity for additional data import capabilities
• Language bindings to C, Java, .NET, Python, and scripting languages

Computational Ability
gridMathematica gives immediate access to the world's leading collection of algorithms and mathematical knowledge. It offers all of the same features and programmatic capabilities as Mathematica, including thousands of functions covering areas such as numerical computation, symbolic computation, graphics, and general programming.

Ease of Development
gridMathematica introduces only a small number of new parallel computing constructs, and users familiar with Mathematica can transition to gridMathematica without difficulty. Furthermore, programs written in Mathematica can be easily modified to run on a grid. Even users who are new to Mathematica can use its high-level programming capabilities and thousands of built-in functions and just a few simple commands to solve grid-computing problems that used to require thousands of lines of code in C or Fortran.

Platform Independence
gridMathematica is platform independent and can be used on dedicated multiprocessor machines as well as on homogeneous and heterogeneous clusters. The only technical requirement, apart from the ability to run Mathematica, is a TCP/IP connection between the individual computing nodes. This connection allows you to run the same code on any available machines with no revisions. It also makes it easy to build ad hoc clusters out of underutilized computers or to take advantage of low-use periods.