Learning How to program on HPC cluster (part I: Scientific software, compilers, C code))

Thursday 6 Nov 2025, 09:30 → 16:00 Europe/Brussels

CYCL09B (Louvain-La-Neuve)

In this session, we will cover the various tool and technique that will allow you to write more efficient code and how to optimize your code.
Contents: Introduction to scientific software development and deployment How to speed up you code at low cost? (Compilers and Library trick) Introduction to procedural programming with C	Prerequisite: Being able to use SSH with private keys  Basic usage of GNU commands (cp, ls, cd,...)
	Type: Lecture/Hands-on Target audience: Rookie Must: This session is a must-have for anyone.

1 Introduction to scientific software development and deployment

Often, the workflow for researchers is to acquire a piece of software, and either modify it, or wrap it in scripts, or simply install it on the clusters, or all of that at the same time, on many clusters. This session will introduce to the tools that can make this whole process easier.
Contents: Programming paradigms Types of languages and the choice of the language. Tools for deploying software  The programmer's toolkit  Writing comments and elements of style	Prerequisite: Being familiar with a text editor  Mastering the Linux command line and the GNU utilities (mkdir, cp, scp, etc.)
Type: Lecture Target audience: Rookie programmers Must: This session is a nice-to-have.

Speaker: Damien François (UCLouvain/CISM)

Devops2024.pdf

2 How to speed up your code at low cost?

The choice of the compiler (many clusters have several, a.o. gcc, intel, etc.) is important, as is the choice of the compiling options. This sessions reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the compilers and their optimal use.
Contents: The GCC Compiler and its options Intel Compiler Studio The different levels of code optimization Using external libraries Using configure and make Downloading and compiling source code Using linear algebra, signal processing libraries, etc.(BLAS, MKL, ACML, etc.)	Prerequisite: Being able to use SSH with private keys  Being familiar with a text editor  Mastering the Linux command line and the GNU utilities (mkdir, cp, scp, etc.) Passive knowledge of C or Fortran
Type: Hands-on Target audience: Rookie programmers Must: This session is a must for anyone who needs to compile software from sources.

Speaker: Bernard Van Renterghem (UCL CISM)

compiler_and_librairies2024.pdf

3 C programming

Learn the basic of programmation with C language