[Colloquium] Rocklin/Dissertation Defense/Jul 26, 2013

[Margaret Jaffey]

       Department of Computer Science/The University of Chicago

                     *** Dissertation Defense ***


Candidate:  Matthew Rocklin

Date:  Friday, July 26, 2013

Time:  10:00 AM

Place:  TBD

Title: Modular Generation of Scientific Software

Abstract:
To motivate modularity in scientific software development we build and
study a system to generate mathematically informed linear algebra
codes as a case study. We stress the effects of modularity on
verification, flexibility, extensibility, and distributed development,
each of which are particularly important in scientific contexts.

Development in computational science is both accelerated and burdened
by changing hardware and diffusion into new disciplines. Hardware
development expands the scale of feasible problems. This same
development also brings challenging programming models that are both
unfamiliar and reflect complex memory and communication architectures.
The adoption of computational methods by new fields multiplies both
the potential and the burden of this growth. Old techniques can be
reapplied to fresh problems in new fields such as biology or within
smaller scale research groups. Unfortunately these new communities
bring a population of novice scientific programmers without a strong
tradition of software engineering. The progress of scientific
computing is limited by scientists' ability to develop software
solutions in these new fields for this new hardware.

This dissertation discusses the health of the current scientific
computing ecosystem and the resulting costs and benefits on scientific
discovery. It promotes software modularity within the scientific
context for the optimization of global efficiency. To support this
argument it considers a case study in automated linear algebra, a well
studied problem with mature practitioners. We produce and analyze a
prototype software system which adheres strictly to the principles of
modularity.

This system automatically generates numerical linear algebra programs
from mathematical inputs. It consists of loosely coupled modules which
draw from computer algebra, compilers, logic programming, and static
scheduling. Each domain is implemented in isolation. We find that this
separation eases development by single-field experts, is robust to
obsolescence, enables reuse, and is easily extensible.

Matthew's advisor is Prof. L. Ridgway Scott

Login to the Computer Science Department website for details,
including a draft copy of the dissertation:

 https://www.cs.uchicago.edu/phd/phd_announcements#mrocklin

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Margaret P. Jaffey            margaret at cs.uchicago.edu
Department of Computer Science
Student Support Rep (Ry 156)               (773) 702-6011
The University of Chicago      http://www.cs.uchicago.edu
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