In the Fall of 2024, ENCCS HPC specialists Ashwin Mohanan and Yonglei Wang took part in the Coderefinery workshop and Python for Scientific Computing workshop by Aalto Scientific Computing (ASC). The grand intention of the workshops is to pass the knowledge of essential computing skills and good practices to the next generation of researchers and engineers. While our primary focus remains focussed on training and helping the professionals with advanced skills targeted towards use of supercomputers, training graduate students and early career researchers are equally important to prepare them for the years to come. Topics discussed in the workshop included: Version control with git, documenting code, testing, introduction to libraries such as NumPy, scripting, packaging and much more…
A livestreamed course
The format that Coderefinery and ASC use is an interesting variant of the MOOC (Massively Open Online Course) concept.
This is how it works behind the scenes from different perspectives:
| Apps | Facilitator / Studio | Instructor / Helpers | Learner |
|---|---|---|---|
| OBS | X | ||
| OBS remote control | X | X | |
| Zoom | X | X | |
| Hedgedoc collaborative notes | X | X | |
| Twitch livestream | X | X | |
| Terminal / JupyterLab / JupyterHub | X | X |
The whole workshop is a unique experience for both the instructors, and the learners. Many of the apps mentioned above are well known, but OBS remote control may need some explanation. It is a very specific application which acts like a digital “stream deck” shared between the hosts.
Using all of these we reach out to truly massively number of participants with ease, without being limited by the restrictions of doing the same by Zoom. Here are some examples of how many were tuning in:
- Coderefinery workshop: 135—481 on Twitch [source]
- Python for scientific computing: around 100-180 on Notes and Twitch
One drawback is that anyone can anonymously tune in. There is some notion of who the learners are if they register, but we don’t have face-to-face interaction with the learners during the course. This flaw is however alleviated by the text based collaborative notes using Hedgedoc and a final post-workshop open Zoom party.
Coderefinery also shared with us how they organize such workshops in a train-the-trainer workshop. and it is worth reading.
Recordings and course material
A comment from one of the learners was that each of the topic discussed in the workshop (for example the one on parallel-programming) can be a week-long course each, and we agree! The intention of such workshops is to inspire and provide a taste of what is possible. Of course, both ENCCS and our partner organizations in the EuroCC projects also offer specialized training events on advanced topics.
Some of the recordings from the workshops are up on YouTube and the rest are getting edited with subtitles as we speak:
- Coderefinery workshop:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpLblYHCzJAC5BCOYGsbxg9hWpVX2g8nf - Python for scientific computing:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZLVmS9rf3nMWEKWtagJ6h0q9BrFO49tn
If videos are not your preferred learning medium, the courses materials are also available for reading and reuse at your pace:
- Coderefinery workshop course page:
https://coderefinery.github.io/2024-09-10-workshop/ - Python for scientific computing course page:
https://scicomp.aalto.fi/training/scip/python-for-scicomp-2024/#schedule - Full course: HTML, PDF
Don’t worry if you missed it. The workshop will most likely return next year.
