ExtraLegsOnToaSwan is a way to describe the experience of running parallel codes using ScaLapack.  The code is replicated on a number of processors, which each make the same call to a subroutine (sorry this is FORTRAN) all together.  This looks to me (the user programmer) like one call to a library, but it is actually a call which will cause the processes to all work simultaneously on different parts of the data to get the result. 

When all is well the swan glides smoothly, 9 or 16 or even 25 processors working together in harmony. Sometimes this is not the case. The swan's legs get tangled and back comes an error code. 

-- JohnFletcher

''Compare the ''Anatidae'' aphorism: "While all above is smooth and graceful, below the water we are paddling furiously..."''

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See also ExtraLegsOntoaDog
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CategoryHumor