Dear Firedrakers, the workshop below might be of interest for some of you. It will take place in Bath on Mon 4th, Tue 5th June 2018, the same week as the Firedrake conference. It would be great to have some representation from the Firedrake community at our workshop. Eike ========= Dear all, we would like to invite you to a two day === Workshop on Debugging Numerical Software === at the University of Bath (UK) on Mon 4th -Tue 5th June 2018 The goal of the workshop is to bring together research software engineers from industry and academia to talk about this important but - as we feel - often neglected topic. As I’m sure you all know from long experience, a lot of time “writing” code is actually spent hunting for (sometimes very elusive) bugs, yet there seems to be limited general advise or consensus on how to make this often arduous task easier. Instead of concentrating on the technicalities, specific debuggers or particular programs, the workshop aims to explore common themes, discuss general strategies and share experiences. Although the focus will be on numerical software, developers from other discipplines are very welcome. The workshop will consist of the following elements: * TALKS by specialists from industry and government organisations (Numerical Algorithms Group [NAG], Allinea/ARM, CRAY, Met Office) * an interactive BUG HUNTING session * small group DISCUSSION SESSIONS on topics such as - teaching debugging - what makes debugging (numerical software) hard? - are there any general principles/strategies to be used? - using tools (or is adding print statements enough?) - classification of bugs - is it possible to write bug-free code? - ensuring correctness of numerical codes in the presence of rounding errors. - debugging codes with varying output (e.g. stochastic simulations and Monte Carlo) We will aim to produce some sort of tangible output, such as speed blog(s) and/or a whitepaper on debugging numerical software. We also hope that the workshop might also lead to the development of new training material on the topic. Further details and a preliminary schedule can be found on the workshop webpage https://sites.google.com/site/debuggingnumericalsoftware/ *** Registration *** To express your interest in the workshop, please fill out the following google form: https://sites.google.com/site/debuggingnumericalsoftware/registration To allow planning of catering etc. we ask you to ===== REGISTER BY TUE, 1ST MAY ===== Please note that the number of spaces is limited and filling out the form will NOT confirm your place yet. We will get in touch with you as soon as possible to confirm your attendance. DO NOT MAKE ANY TRAVEL/ACCOMMODATION ARRANGEMENTS BEFORE YOU RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM US CONFIRMING YOUR ATTENDANCE. *** Bug hunting session *** One of the central parts of the workshop will be an interactive bug hunting session. For this we would like the participants to share interesting bugs they have encountered (and maybe even successfully fixed). We will then debug and investigate those bugs in small groups to form the basis for subsequent discussions. Ideally, participants should extract their bug and bring it with them in the form of a simple program which can be shared with other participants. Please provide further details on any bugs you can bring on the registration form and make sure that you will bring a laptop. *** Accommodation *** Please arrange your own accommodation in Bath. There is a large number of hotels for different budgets in the city centre, see section “Accommodation” on the webpage for a small selection. Since Bath is a popular tourist destination we advise you to book early (but not before your place is confirmed!) *** Travel arrangements *** Bath is very easy to reach by train, it’s only 15 minutes from Bristol and on the main train line to London Paddington (which can be reached in 1.5 hours from Bath). Please see the “Travelling to Bath” section on the webpage for further details. Information on how to get to the University can be found on the “Workshop Location” section on the same webpage. *** Workshop fee and financial support *** No fee is required to attend the workshop. Tea/coffee and lunch will be provided free of charge on both days and there will be a conference dinner on Monday evening in the Aqua Italia restaurant in Bath which is paid for by our sponsors. We will not normally cover costs for travel and accommodation. However, to allow junior participants such as PhD students and RSEs in the early stages of their career to attend, we will be able to provide a small number of travel bursaries. To apply for this financial support, please email us the following information (2-3 sentences for each bullet point) by 1 May 2018: * your current status and stage of career * your main interests * your motivation for attending the workshop * brief justification why travel support would be important for you Please also arrange for your supervisor or manager to send us an email to confirm your status and to provide support for your application. Any decisions on support will be at the discretion of the organisers. The workshop is organised by James Grant as local RSE in Bath and Eike Mueller as a new Fellow of the Software Sustainability Institute. It has been made possible through generous financial support from the Software Sustainability Institute (www.software.ac.uk<http://www.software.ac.uk/>) and the Institute of Mathematical Innovation in Bath (http://www.bath.ac.uk/imi/). James and Eike