Group of Hackathon participants jumping in front of JUWELS Cluster in the machine hall Together with our colleagues from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and in collaboration with HIDA and OpenHackathons, we hosted the Helmholtz GPU Hackathon 2023 in Jülich in May.

I’ve blogged about the event for the Zweikommazwei blog of Forschungszentrum; it even includes some video statements we filmed with a few participants!

It was the first Hackathon we held in meat space again after the start of the Pandemic. It was great to see so many excited scientists digging through their code, the LAN party feeling was strong! This year, we couldn’t use our precious Rotunda room at JSC and needed to go to another building on the campus. That meant hauling tables and chairs, not only between rooms, but also between buildings.1 But: That allowed us to accept a few more people!
Through the support by HIDA, we were able to provide catering to the event. The attendees appreciated that this allowed them to focus even more on their GPU hacking. Great!

Despite some Wi-Fi struggles at the beginning of the first day, the teams were able to make great progress on their respective applications. Of course, progress is very relative. For some, it meant finding a place to hook in OpenACC statements or even compile with the NVHPC compiler for a first time. For others, it meant refactoring their already full-fledged GPU application and squeezing just a little more juice out of the GPU. In any case, the team of HPC and GPU experts available helped as much as they could and guided the teams individually.

We already started planning the Helmholtz Hackathon 2024, most likely for April. This time, HZDR is responsible for hosting!

  1. Thanks to everyone helping out with logistics and especially, thank you, Otti! ↩