IEEE Report: Warp Computer Architecture, Implementation, Performance

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Warp Computer, examining its architecture, implementation, and performance as detailed in the IEEE Transactions on Computers article by Annaratone et al. The report explores the Warp Computer's design, including its cell organization, architecture, and programming languages, and compares its performance to the VAX 11/780 computer. It highlights the Warp Computer's superior speed and efficiency, noting its significant performance gains in various applications. The report also discusses the limitations of the original paper, such as the lack of discussion on discrepancies between expected and achieved MFLOPS and the absence of a defined study scope, methodology, and limitations. Despite these shortcomings, the report emphasizes the Warp Computer's contributions to the field of computer science, particularly in areas like robot navigation and computer vision, making it a valuable resource for students and professionals interested in the evolution of computing technology.

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THE WARP COMPUTER: ARCHITECTURE, IMPLEMENTATION AND PERFORMANCE
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The Warp Computer: Architecture, Implementation and Performance
The article:
Annaratone, M; Arnould, E; Gross, T; Kung, H.T; Lam, M; Menzilcioglu, O; Webb, J.A., 1987.
The Warp Computer: Architecture, Implementation, and Performance. IEEE Transactions on
Computers, C-36(12), pp. 1523-1538.
This article possess all the fundamental qualities of a research paper. All sections in the
article, including the abstract, introduction, main body and conclusion, have been properly and
adequately covered as they contain details that are expected in a research paper. It discusses three
aspects of Warp computer: architecture, implementation and performance, which are stated in the
title. Therefore the title of the article is appropriate as it clearly indicates the key areas covered
and what the reader should expect to learn from it. The authors clearly outlined the organization
of the paper in the introduction, making it easier for the reader to go through it. In general, the
article was properly written even though it has a few limitations, which will be discussed in this
critique. The critique basically entails a general review of the paper, its applicability and
response on whether it achieved its purpose or not.
Computers were developed to solve numerous problems especially those related to
computations. Today, people carry advanced computing powers in their smartphones not
knowing how early computer models worked. Over the years, computers have been developed
from one model to a more powerful one. This article entitled “The Warp Computer: Architecture,
Implementation, and Performance”, was written by authors from the Department of Computer
Science at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA, USA. The main aim of article was to
discuss various elements of Warp computer and demonstrate how and why Warp computer was

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more powerful than existing models at that time, particularly VAX 11/780 class computer. The
authors have adequately covered these aspects and achieved the main purpose of the paper.
The authors of the paper have covered the following areas comprehensively: overview of
the Warp computer system; how the Warp computer cells are organized to enhance their
efficiency; architecture of the cells, including details of their design features and their
development process; architecture of the host system; programming languages of Warp computer
and how the system can be programmed; performance of the Warp computer in different
applications; and comparison of Warp computer’s architecture and performance with that of
other similar computers. By reading this paper, one is able to understand a variety of elements
about Warp computer. This includes: key components of a Warp system, how the Warp system
works, architecture of Warp array, architecture of Warp cell, implementation of Warp cells,
components and architecture of Warp host system, Warp programming (including W2 language
that is used to program Warp and problem partitioning of Warp array), Warp applications (such
as in robot navigation, scientific computing, signal processing and computer vision research. The
authors of the article found that the performance and speed of Warp computer was hundred times
greater than a typical VAX 11/780 computer. In general, this paper helps one to understand
design features of Warp computer, how the Warp computer works, various applications of Warp
and why Warp computer was more powerful, in terms of performance and efficiency, than VAX
11/780 computer.
Most of the discussions in the paper are relevant and the authors cited the literature and
most of their views accordingly. This shows that they conducted thorough research before
writing the paper. The results obtained also show that the authors practically measured the
speeds of Warp computer and VAX 11/780 computer in different applications so as to determine

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the difference between them. The overall results showed that the speed and performance of Warp
computer was hundred times greater than that of VAX 11/780 computer. This was in accordance
with the authors’ hypothesis that Warp computer is more powerful and faster than VAX 11/780
computer. Another important finding was on the performance of specific algorithms on Warp
machine prototype. The results obtained showed that there was a significant difference between
upper bound MFLOPS (million floating-point operations per second) and achieved MFLOPS.
All achieved MFLOPS were less than upper bound MFLOPS with some differences being as
high as over 90%. These differences are huge and cannot be overlooked. The differences are
likely to have been contributed by several possible sources of errors when performing the
exercise. However, the authors did not discuss these discrepancies nor their sources. Ignoring
these high levels of differences between expected and obtained results is a major limitation for
this paper. The authors would have identified possible sources of errors, discuss them and
recommend ways on how to avoid or minimize them when conducting similar studies in the
future.
This type of research paper should also have a statement explicitly defining the scope of
the study. The authors did not mention the scope of their study and therefore it leaves readers
guesstimating how extensive the study was. The title of the paper is very extensive and therefore
it would have been a good idea for the authors to provide the lower and upper limits that were to
be covered in the area. In relation to that, the authors did not mention the limitations of their
study. Every study has limitations and it is very important to define them so that the readers can
also know what not to expect from the study or the constraints of the study.
There is also the issue of methodology that was used to complete this study. The authors
have provided several data and results in form of tables and graphs. However, they did not

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specify when, where and how the data and results were obtained. In this kind of research paper, it
is recommended to discuss the methodology that was used to obtain the results. This information
is very essential because it can be used as a guideline by readers who are interested in
performing the same or similar study. This paper does not have a methodology and therefore it
may be very difficult for readers to perform the same study by relying on the procedure or
guidance provided in this paper. Additionally, all research papers have challenges or areas that
need to be improved in the future. However, the authors did not highlight any challenges that
they faced when conducting the study nor did they recommend any future improvements.
Generally, most parts of this paper were done satisfactorily and the authors ensured that
the article meets the characteristics of a research paper. The authors clearly indicated the purpose
of the research, areas to be covered and the motivation behind conducting the study. However,
the paper can be improved by incorporating some of the missing issues that have been mentioned
above, such as scope and limitations of the study, methodology used to collect data, challenges
faced, and future improvements. The authors also stated that Warp array can be extended to suit
the desired application but they did not say how and the ease of doing this. Despite the
shortcomings, the paper provides comprehensive information about the design and architectural
elements of Warp computer, programming languages of Warp computer, applications of Warp
computer, architectural alternatives of Warp machine, and high performance capability and
speed of Warp computer than VAX 11/780 computer. Even though the article is a technical
paper, it can be read and understood by people who are not specialists in computer science. The
structure of the paper is good and the content relevant to the topic. Therefore the article is a good
source of information on how computers were developed from one model to another with an aim
of improving the power, performance, speed and efficiency that are possessed by today’s

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computers. It is even more important for students, professionals and anyone interested in the
field of computer science.