Workshop teaches old users new tricks and introduces new users to high-performance computing
The Titan Users and Developers Workshop was held in the San Francisco Bay area from January 29-31
The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) took high-performance computing training to the user for the first time when experts from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) traveled to California for the Titan Users and Developers Workshop.
The conference was held in the San Francisco Bay area from January 29-31, where the OLCF has many current and prospective users. The goal of the three-day event was to provide hands-on training to prepare users and developers to work on ORNL’s Titan system, which gets its leadership power by combining GPUs with CPUs.
The workshop moved from introductory topics to more advanced material. Day 1 focused on basics like properly logging into the system, compiling data, running applications, and using scientific libraries. By the third day, users and developers were learning more complex material such as GPU architecture and application programming.
Attendees participated in lab activities to practice what they were taught and get experience with applications and programming techniques.
“The hands on activities gave the users a chance to get involved with the material they were learning, which will help them when they do their own work on Titan,” said Ashley Barker, user assistance and outreach group leader for the OLCF.
The conference also featured presentations by the OLCF’s Michael Brown and Wayne Joubert who worked on preparing codes for Titan. They were able to share lessons they had learned in the programming process so that new developers could be more familiarized with the system and know what pitfalls to avoid.
“By the end of the workshop, potential Titan users gained a great starting point for their projects.” Barker said. “They understand Titan’s architecture and the programming environment, which gives them a boost starting out.”—by Leah Moore
