Scientific Software Club at Cornell

Intro to Unix

• Introduction to Unix shell.

Red Cloud and the MATLAB Distributed Computing Server (MDCS)

• Introduction to Red Cloud and its features
• Quick demo of MATLAB work farmed out to Red Cloud using MDCS
• Overview of the MATLAB Parallel Computing Toolbox (PCT)
• Insights on various ways to run MATLAB computations in a cloud using PCT

Mixing Languages in Scientific Codes

• Why you would want to mix languages.
• Common patterns, problems, and interfaces available.
• Using code to generate code.

Debugging and Testing Strategies in Scientific Codes

• Rapid prototyping.
• Exploratory simulations.
• Large scale simulations.

Docker and Deep Learning

• Getting started with docker.
• Overview of deep learning and how it works.
• Introduction to various useful toolsets for deep learning.

Mathematica == Fun(ctions)

• An overview of the numerous features of Mathematica (Wolfram Language).
• Complex procedures are easy with functional programming.
• Demonstrations with included code for everything you need to get started!

Workflow and Build Automation

• Motivation for automation.
• Introduction to make.
• Available successors to make, depending on your goals.

Writing Advanced Matlab Code

• Overview of Matlab in the context of high performance computing.
• Explanation of how using Matlab's intrinsics can increase performance.
• Demonstrations of profiling code to understand where to focus tuning.

Databases and Large-scale Data Analytics

• Managing high volumes of data through databasing.
• Accessible, open-source systems for analytics.
• Thorough discussion of, given the numerous factors and options, what to choose.

Using Vagrant to Distribute Research Code to Colleagues

• Getting started with vagrant
• Get started with configuring vagrant
• Launch some iPython kernels!

Numerical Software Engineering

• A summarization of best scientific software practices.
• Examples ranging from writing cleaner code to project management software.

Data Visualization Using JavaScript

• A Primer on D3.js (and some Three.js)
• How to interactively visualize your data in your browser!
• How to embed these visualizations on presentations.

Introduction to Knights Landing (KNL)

• High performance using the excellent KNL Accelerator Boards.

Documenting your Codes

• Automatic documentation generation, triggered after each commit.
• Modern look and feel, with LaTeX equations and mobile support by default.
• Pointers to where you can host your documentation for free.

Coding your Documents

• Building documentation of all shapes and sizes.
• Tools for simplifying / automating the process.

Cloud Computing with AWS

• Introduction to the Amazon Web Service platform.
• Discussion large-scale storage options and file-systems.
• MapReduce in 80 lines or less!

Statistical modeling, data visualization, and fun(ctional) programming in R

• Introduction to the R programming language.
• Working with various kinds of datasets.
• The convenience and power of functional programming in R.

Computing on Google’s Cloud

• Hands-on workshop using Google's cloud platform.

An Introduction to Julia

• Crash course on the syntax and unique features of this language.
• Hands-on demonstrations (through Jupyter Notebooks)!
• Preview of useful features to wield for high-performance Julia.

Where to Run Your Code: Real and Virtual Platforms

• Overview of the various resources available for distributed computing.
• Understanding the differences between them.
• How to decide which kind to use when.

A Pythonic Whirlwind

• High performance python.
• IPython/Jupyter Notebooks.
• Interacting with Jupyter on a cluster.

Using the Totient Cluster

• Queueing jobs on Totient (qsub).
• Brief example repository for C programs using make.
• Shared terminal sessions (tmux and tmate).

Working with Remote Hosts

• Overview of what a cluster is.
• Introduction to using ssh effectively.
• Introduction to using git effectively.
• Example repository for more convenient terminal and tools.

Welcome to SSW

• Discussion of the goals of the club.
• Introduction to Unix and Windows shell.