In the "gold rush" for higher performance numbers, a lot of confusion was introduced in supercomputing. The present paper attempts to clear up the terms through scrutinizing the basic terms, contributions, measurement methods. It is shown that using extremely large number of processing elements in computing systems leads to unexpected phenomena,  that cannot be explained in the frame of the classical computing paradigm. The phenomena show interesting parallels with the phenomena experienced in science more than a century ago and through their studying a modern science was introduced . The introduced simple non-technical model enables to set up a frame and formalism enabling to explain the unexplained experiences around supercomputing. The  model also enables to derive predictions of supercomputer performance for the near future as well as provides hints for enhancing supercomputer components .
Using extremely large number of processing elements in computing systems leads to unexpected phenomena, such as different efficiencies of the same system for different tasks, that cannot be explained in the frame of the classical computing paradigm. The introduced simple non-technical model enables to set up a frame and formalism needed to explain the unexpected experiences around supercomputing. The paper shows that the degradation of the efficiency of the parallelized sequential system is a natural consequence of the computing paradigm, rather than an engineering imperfectness. The workload is greatly responsible for wasting the energy as well as limiting the size and the type of tasks the supercomputers can run. Case studies provide insight how the different contributions compete for dominating the resulting payload performance of the computing system, and how enhancing the technology made the computing+communication the dominating contribution in defining the efficiency of supercomputers. The model also enables to derive predictions about the supercomputer performance limitations for the near future as well as provides hints for enhancing the supercomputer components. The phenomena show interesting parallels with the phenomena experienced in science more than a century ago and through their studying a modern science was developed .
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In the "gold rush" for higher performance numbers, a lot of confusion was introduced in supercomputing. The present paper attempts to clear up the terms through scrutinizing the basic terms, contributions, measurement methods. It is shown that using
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paper shows that the degradation of the efficiency of the parallelized sequential system is a natural consequence of the computing paradigm, rather than an engineering imperfectness. The workload is greatly responsible for wasting the energy as well as limiting the size and the type of tasks the supercomputers can run. Case studies provide insight how the different contributions compete for dominating the resulting payload performance of the computing system, and how enhancing the technology made the computing+communication the dominating contribution in defining the efficiency of supercomputers. The
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