EuroHack22: GPU Programming Hackathon

Background

General-purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPUs) potentially offer exceptionally high memory bandwidth and performance for a wide range of scientific applications. The challenge in utilizing such accelerators efficiently has been the difficulty in programming them. Today, these devices can be programmed using different programming models ranging from the low-level CUDA C/C++ programming API to the high-level directives-based programming modules, such as OpenACC or OpenMP, which offer straightforward compiler extensions to C, C++ and Fortran to address the programming hurdle. In-between these levels, there are programming paradigms that use existing programming language feature sets to provide accelerator programming capabilities through carefully designed programming libraries, such as Kokkos and similar.

Workshop Goal

EuroHack provides a unique opportunity for current or prospective users groups of large hybrid CPU-GPU systems to either (1) port their (potentially) scalable application to GPU accelerators, or (2) optimize an existing GPU-enabled application to run more efficiently and at large scale on the future Tier-0 system of CSCS. The goal is that the development teams leave at the end of the hackathon with applications running on GPUs, or at least with a clear roadmap of how to get there.

Target Audience and Format

This program is addressed to small teams of 3 to 5 developers interested in porting or optimizing their application on a cluster of GPU accelerators in a short but extremely intense time window. This is a great opportunity for grad students and post-docs.

Collectively the team should know the application intimately. There will be intensive mentoring during this 10-day hands-on workshop. Mentors come from universities, supercomputing centers and industry, and they bring their extensive experience in programming GPUs, as well as in GPU-enabled compilers and profiling tools. The event will be limited to 8 teams of 3 to 5 developers with 2 mentors for each team. We also accept teams with remote participation. Please note that we will give preference to teams planning to participate fully or partially on site.

The event format for 2022 differs from previous years, when the hackathon was either completely in person (until 2019) or fully virtual (2020-2021). This time the event is hybrid with the first day held in a virtual environment, and the final section of the event taking place in person. Please find below a schedule of the event :

• September 19 (virtual): Day 1 of the hackathon (Kick-Off)
• September 20–26 (virtual): Teams work offline with mentors
• September 27–29 (face-to-face): Days 2–4 of the hackathon (teamwork + daily SCRUMs)

Please note that the event will be held on the CEST time zone.

Targeted Application

This program is not targeting a specific application. We aim at collecting scientific non-commercial codes in need of porting individual modules, i.e., with a well-defined subset of 2-10K lines of code with a validation test. The latter is crucial for incremental development without introducing bugs.

Application Process

Visit the OpenACC.org website (please make sure that you apply to the “CSCS” hackathon) and provide as much information in the form as possible by July 25, 2022 (anywhere on Earth).  Groups will be notified about acceptance or rejection of their application by August 2, 2022. Please note that, in contrast to what is indicated on the on-line application form, we can only accept teams with 3–5 members.

Groups whose application successfully passes the selection process will need to register for the event to confirm participation within two weeks from notification of acceptance. The notification of acceptance will include information on how to register.

Team participants, as well as mentors, will be offered a certificate of attendance.

Participation costs

Participation in the workshop is free of charge. The meeting room, lunches and one conference dinner, as well as access to the supercomputers throughout the event are offered by the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre. If participants prefer they can use their own GPU resource. The virtual environment of the event is supported by the OpenACC organization. Mentors and learning materials are provided by CSCS, OpenACC organization and other partner organizations.

Participants are responsible for their travels to the meeting venue, their accommodation, dinners during the in-person section of the event, and personal expenses. There are 30 rooms blocked for this event at the venue. Rooms range from CHF 159 (single) – 169 (double room for single use) per night per person with breakfast.

Venue

In order to offer a good atmosphere for a three days of intense programming, we have chosen Hotel de la Paix in Lugano, Switzerland, only minutes by foot to the scenic Lake of Lugano. The region is served by Milan Malpensa airport (Italy) and by Zurich airport. The train timetable from either of these airports to Lugano main train station (“Lugano, stazione”) is available here. You should calculate a ride of approximately 2h from either airport with slightly shorter connections from Milan Malpensa airport.

Participant’s experience

On April 1, 2022, the Federal Council has decided to revoke all COVID-19 measures against the pandemic.

There will be no physical distancing between seats in the meeting room, nor obligation to wear a mask. You are invited to wear a mask if that makes you feel more comfortable.

Now that the measures and restrictions related to events have been lifted, individual responsibility in protecting everyone’s health has become of primary importance.

We ask all participants to follow the federal recommendations regarding hygiene and behaviour in a pandemic situation:

• Cough and sneeze into a tissue or the crook of your arm
• Wash or sanitise your hands thoroughly

Once registered, should you feel unwell, we will ask you to please write an email to tatjana.ruefli@cscs.ch and explain that you are unable to attend due to a suspect case of coronavirus infection. Most common coronavirus symptoms are:

• Symptoms of a respiratory illness (sore throat, cough (usually dry), shortness of breath, chest pain)
• High temperature
• Sudden loss of sense of smell and/or taste
• Headache
• General weakness, feeling unwell
• Aching muscles
• Gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach ache)
• Head cold
• Skin rash

Should the epidemiologic situation change and require the introduction of new regulations, we will promptly inform registered participants.

Inquiries

Please contact Andreas Jocksch (jocksch__AT__cscs.ch) for questions related to the hackathon content, or Tatjana Ruefli (ruefli__AT__cscs.ch) for questions related to the in-person section of the event.