Facilitating the learning process in parallel computing by using instant messaging
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Facilitating the learning process in parallel computing by using instant messaging Ángel Manuel Guerrero‑Higueras1 · Lídia Sánchez‑González1 · Miguel Ángel Conde‑González1 · Manuel Castejón‑Limas1
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Parallel Programming skills may require a long time to acquire. “Think in parallel” is a skill that requires time, effort, and experience. In this work, we propose to facilitate the students’ learning process in parallel programming by using instant messaging. Our aim was to find out whether students’ interaction through instant messaging tools is beneficial for the learning process. In order to do so, we asked several students of an HPC course of the Master’s degree in Computer Science of the University of León to develop a specific parallel application, each of them using a different application program interface: OpenMP, MPI, CUDA, or OpenCL. Even though the used APIs are different, there are common points in the design process. We encouraged students to interact with each other by using Gitter, an instant messaging tool for GitHub users. Our analysis of the communications and results demonstrate that the direct interaction of students through the Gitter tool has a positive impact on the learning process. Keywords High-performance computing · Instant messaging · Parallel programming
* Ángel Manuel Guerrero‑Higueras [email protected] Lídia Sánchez‑González [email protected] Miguel Ángel Conde‑González [email protected] Manuel Castejón‑Limas [email protected] 1
Department of Mechanical, Computer Science, and Aerospace Engineering, University of León, Campus de Vegazana S/N, 24071 León, Spain
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1 Introduction In today’s digitally driven world, advanced technology has become an essential tool for sciences creating every day even more demands to be satisfied. In order to deal with many problems of areas such as Meteorology, Climatology, Astrophysics, Healthcare, Biology, or Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Computing (HPC) is required due to the data volume they manage or the execution time they need. For this reason, the use of a supercomputer that provides such extreme computational power is mandatory. Governments and organizations are investing in HPC to leverage and strengthen infrastructures that provide HPC services. Besides the hardware, the use of all the capabilities available is a key task for professionals in technology; this is commonly named as the “think in parallel” skill. Therefore, this competence must be acquired by future professionals and it is an essential issue to be focused on. There is an increasing demand for professionals to be aware of the benefits of HPC so as to handle these problems. Therefore, teaching future professionals implies acquiring skills related to HPC such as parallel programming or managing HPC environments. One of the key skills to acquire for the effective use of HPC facilities is “Think in parallel”. However, the acquisition’s evaluation of the “think in p
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