HiRSE Continuous Benchmarking Hackathon Wrap-Up

When developing research software, it is vital to track performance over time and to ensure that performance is not compromised by ongoing development. This can be automated by including benchmarking in continuous integration practices, continuous benchmarking (CB) for short. Due to its importance, the newly established Research Software Engineering for HPC (RSE4HPC) team at JSC hosted the “HiRSE Hackathon on Continuous Benchmarking” on 17-18 October, bringing together researchers from different Helmholtz institutions and universities to develop, collaborate, and discuss CB. This included CB software frameworks, data aggregation, and visualization as well as repository and user policies to cover the many aspects that need to be considered when implementing CB due to the diversity in applications, codes, algorithms, and machines. In total, 32 teams and numerous individuals joined the activity that started with short presentations of their software and their goals for the event, with some of them showcasing their ongoing efforts to tackle CB. The remaining time was open for participants to spend it according to how they saw fit, utilizing the wealth of expertise present at the event to pursue their goals. This open format programme provided a platform for spontaneous discussions as well as a time and place to work towards a specific goal. The hackathon was jointly organized with the Steinbuch Centre for Computing at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and was the second HiRSE event of this kind, following on from the “Continuous Integration Hackathon” in September 2022 at KIT. Both events were very well received, suggesting that there will be more events to come in 2024.
More details are available on the workshop website.
Contact: Dr. Robert Speck
from JSC News No. 300, 12 December 2023