Application Software and Usage Environment for the K computer

The K computer is a super massively parallel computer consisting of about one million processing cores, so the development of an environment in which it is easy to use is important. To facilitate the use of the K computer, two application software development projects, called "grand challenge projects," are being carried out, one for nanoscience and one for life science. A number of program codes that are well-optimized for the K computer will be developed in these projects, and, after project completion, users of the K computer will be able to use these program codes on demand. Five science and technology fields have been specified for promoting use of the K computer and high-performance computing. Research and development related to accomplishing the strategic goals of the two projects are being pursued, and the establishment of a research system for computational science is expected. In this article, application software development and the usage environment for the K computer are presented.