A Grid Programming Primer Programming Models Working Group

A grid computing environment is inherently parallel, distributed, heterogeneous and dynamic, both in terms of the resources involved and their performance. That is to say, grids will present hierarchies of machines, data and networks that have associated hierarchies of cycles, bandwidths and latencies that are beyond the scope of most established programming tools. For this reason, effective grid programming will require capabilities and properties beyond that of sequential programming or parallel and distributed programming. Hence, it will be necessary to investigate what capabilities and properties a programming tool must possess to support the effective development of efficient grid codes. This paper investigates those properties, briefly surveys current programming paradigms and tools, and examines their suitability for grid programming. Suggestions are made for focus areas in which further work is most likely to yield useful results. 1