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Is Windows a Suitable Computing Environment for Scientists?

© Adam Hughes

Last week we began to examine the issue of what makes an operating system well-suited to scientific computing. As was mentioned in that article, determining whether a particular environment will be valuable generally comes down to two considerations: ease of use and the level of control afforded the scientist. This week, we'll start to look at some of the more popular operating systems out there, beginning with everyone's favorite, Microsoft Windows™.

Windows™, as most computer users are aware, is the graphical interface that spares the PC crowd from dealing directly with command-line interactions with their computers. But while Windows™ is often seen as painfully elaborate by some hard-core developers and users, it does allow you to access the underlying DOS through a command prompt. In fact, as a note of historical perspective, the first version of Windows™ I used was actually invoked by typing "win" at the command line!

So, since Windows™ offers both a sophisticated graphical interface and command-line access, it's perfect for all users, right? Well, not surprisingly, the opinion here is no. Windows™ is very good at allowing users to accomplish most of their computing goals with the click of a mouse; and for many scientists, this environment is just what they need. They can enter their numbers into Excel™, produce some graphs, maybe make and edit some pictures, and then pull it all together into a PowerPoint™ presentation. It's even possible to run some of the more powerful scientific simulation codes on Windows™-based PC's, and at least one company is gearing much of its development work toward this platform. However, the baggage of all these nice features often slows down or completely stops the progress of a scientist who is looking for the best performance and total control in his simulation environment.

For the experienced computational scientist, flexibility and control are usually the most important features in an operating system -- or any piece of software, for that matter. He needs to be able to shift and sort his files and data exactly as he wants and not be hindered by any artificial constructs of his system. So while Windows™ is a great system for the computational scientist interested in running existing codes in a set pattern, it's a little overwhelming for most developers and those looking for optimal performance. Next time around, we'll take a look at an operating system which is usually the software of choice for these stout souls: Unix.

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