# Concurrent Computing Tutorials

Many definitions and approaches exist for tackling the concept of parallelization and distributing workloads in the cloud (Here's a [particularly helpful Stack Exchange post](https://cs.stackexchange.com/questions/1580/distributed-vs-parallel-computing) on the subject). To help make the documentation easier to understand, when discussing concurrent computing paradigms this guide refers to:

* **Parallel**: Using multiple threads or logical cores to concurrently process a workload.
* **Distributed**: Using multiple machines (in this case instances in the cloud) that communicate to concurrently process a workload.

Keep these formal definitions in mind as you read through the tutorials and learn how to compute concurrently on the DNAnexus Platform.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://documentation.dnanexus.com/getting-started/developer-tutorials/concurrent-computing-tutorials.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.