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A (Digital) Letter To Santa

© Adam Hughes

Dear Santa,

I have been extra-special good this year because there are lots of things that I want this Christmas -- er...I mean, that I've been good because I know it's the right thing to do. Anyway, in case you're wondering, here are some things that would really help me be more productive in the coming year:

• 10) More memory. As you know, Santa, application sizes keep growing, so a good computationalist is always looking to expand his memory in order to keep his performance "up to speed".
• 9) A Unix workstation. Maybe this request is a little extravagant, but, what the heck, it's Christmas.
• 8) Make Java faster. As good as it is for so many things, Java tends to cause some performance problems for very computationally-intense systems.
• 7) A nice Linux operating system. If I can't get the Unix box, Santa, maybe this would be a little more in line with your budget. If you need to know more about what you're giving me, check out the Red Hat home page.
• 6) A good Java debugger. As Java gains in popularity among the scientific set, the applications developed using the language are becoming more and more complicated. The days of debugging solely with print statements are quickly coming to an end. Two of the more popular Java debuggers are JBuilder from Borland and Together, by TogetherSoft. Maybe your elves can examine these products by surfing to http://www.borland.com/jbuilder and http://www.togethersoft.com.
• 5) Make Java less of a memory hog. Closely related to number 8. You could probably get a package deal on these.
• 4) A trip to SuperComputing 2002. I'm not sure where the conference will be held next year, but I know that it will be a blast...I mean, it will be informative. Santa, the SC conference always has exhibits of the latest technologies in supercomputing, and it's a wonderful opportunity to meet with some of the leaders in the industry. You can check it out for yourself at http://www.supercomp.org.
• 3) CPU time at a major supercomputer center. There are lots to choose from, Santa, so I'm sure you can find one that fits your (and my) needs. Since you spend most of your time at the North Pole, might I suggest a January trip to the warmer climes of Hawaii? While you're there, don't forget my request, which could be filled by the Maui High Performance Computing Center.
• 2) A complete paradigm for using Java on massively parallel machines. A Java extension to MPI, maybe. I know the elves can whip up something, Santa.

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