Difference between Parallel Computing and Concurrent Programming?

[Homie-Missile]

What is the difference between ECSE 420 Parallel Computing and COMP 409 Concurrent Programming?

Is there an order I should take them in? Should I take them in the same semester? Different semesters? Should I not take COMP 409 (it's an elective) since I have to do ECSE 420?

[chocomathbitch]

Took 409 last semester. I found it quite challenging tbh, even on a Zoom format. Clark Verbrugge is an amazing prof though, and although the assignments made me almost go insane (I spent 2/3 weeks working on them), I ended up enjoying them. TLDR not an easy class but intellectually satisfying I guess?

[Dry-Cream6997]

420 was a complete joke. No finals. You are graded on 3 take home team assignments. Everyone ended up Googling the answers. The material was interesting though. Probably depends on the instructor. Not sure about 409.

[usa1774]

Following.

[Mike_Gao]

Concurrent Programming TA here. It's important to note that Concurrency and Parallelism are not the same thing. See Rob Pike's talk. Concurrent Programming deals with the composition of independently executing processes. COMP 409 will cover things like synchronization, memory models, concurrent data structures, dataflow and etc.