Parallel Programming in Python

The workshop will take place at Science Park 402, 1098 XH Amsterdam. Please note that lunch and drinks at the end of the workshop are included.

Python is one of most widely used languages to do scientific data analysis, visualization, and even modelling and simulation. The popularity of Python is mainly due to the two pillars of a friendly syntax together with the availability of many high-quality libraries. The flexibility that Python offers comes with a few downsides though: code typically doesn’t perform as fast as lower-level implementations in C/C++ or Fortran, and it is not trivial to parallelize Python code to work efficiently on many-core architectures. This workshop addresses both these issues, with an emphasis on being able to run Python code efficiently (in parallel) on multiple cores.

We’ll start with learning to recognize problems that are suitable for parallel processing, looking at dependency diagrams and kitchen recipes. From then on, the workshop is highly interactive, diving straight into the first parallel programs. This workshop teaches the principles of parallel programming in Python using Dask, Numba and asyncio. More importantly, we try to give insight in how these different methods perform and when they should be used.

The workshop is based on the teaching style of the Carpentries, and learners will follow along while the instructors write the code on screen. More information can be found on the workshop website (will be activated once registration is live).

Audience

The workshop is open and free to all researchers in the Netherlands at PhD candidate level and higher. We do not accept registrations by Master students. The workshop is aimed at PhD candidates and other researchers or research software engineers.

Prerequisites

The participant should be:

• familiar with basic Python: control flow, functions, NumPy
• comfortable working in Jupyter

Recommended

• understand how NumPy and/or Pandas work

Syllabus

• Recognizing potential for parallelism
• Dependency diagrams
• Measuring performance
• Working with Dask arrays
• Working with Numba
• Parallel design patterns
• Delayed evaluation
• Parallel programming using asyncio

Where

This training will take place in-person at the eScience Center, Science Park 402, Amsterdam. We are committed to making this workshop accessible to everybody. Unfortunately, the elevator in our building is broken and it will take until July to fix it. Please contact us at if you cannot use the staircase.

When

Tuesday 4 July – 09:30 – 17:00

Wednesday 5 July – 09:30 – 17:00