6 Control parallel versus data parallel polygon clipping

Abstract

A control parallel and a novel data parallel implementation of a polygon clipping algorithm on transputers and the DAP respectively were presented and contrasted. In general it is not easy to compare the performance and cost-effectiveness of a MIMD and SIMD parallel processor for a particular task. There are a number of parameters whose values can not accurately be determined without implementations on both machines (such as the exact value of algorithmic complexity and processor utilisation) and the optimal algorithms for each task and parallel processor are rarely known. Comparisons are further complicated by differences in the size, vintage and cost of the relevant machines.