Editing Parallel computing (section)

===Application checkpointing===
{{main|Application checkpointing}}
As a computer system grows in complexity, the [[mean time between failures]] usually decreases. [[Application checkpointing]] is a technique whereby the computer system takes a "snapshot" of the application—a record of all current resource allocations and variable states, akin to a [[core dump]]—; this information can be used to restore the program if the computer should fail. Application checkpointing means that the program has to restart from only its last checkpoint rather than the beginning. While checkpointing provides benefits in a variety of situations, it is especially useful in highly parallel systems with a large number of processors used in [[high performance computing]].<ref>''Encyclopedia of Parallel Computing, Volume 4'' by David Padua 2011 {{ISBN|0387097651}} page 265</ref>