Supercomputers are often made up of a large number of coupled computer cores – the brains of the computer - all working together in parallel.

Computer algorithms are a set of step-by-step instructions to be performed by a computer. For a supercomputer, most of these algorithms will need additional steps to explain how information is divided and shared between multiple computer cores. For a computer to understand these instructions, they are written in a computer language.

The computer languages used on a supercomputer are similar to those of a normal computer. However there are often additional options to describe how you share information and send messages between the coupled computers.