Introduction to Using the Shell in a High-Performance Computing Context

This workshop is an introduction to using high-performance computing systems effectively. We obviously can’t cover every case or give an exhaustive course on parallel programming in just two days of teaching time. Instead, this workshop is intended to give students a good introduction and overview of the tools available and how to use them effectively.

By the end of this workshop, students will know how to:

Use the UNIX command line (also known as terminal or shell) to operate a computer, connect to a cluster, and write simple shell scripts.
Submit and manage jobs on a cluster using a scheduler, transfer files, and use software through environment modules.
Learn the fundamentals of programming in Python or Chapel.
Understand parallel programming strategies, and write basic parallel code in Python or Chapel.

NOTE

This is the draft HPC Carpentry release. Comments and feedback are welcome.

Additionally, please explore the lesson, shell-novice until this one is complete.

Prerequisites

There are no real prerequisites for this lesson, but prior programming and/or command line experience will be helpful.

Schedule

	Setup	Download files required for the lesson
09:00	1. Why Use a Cluster?	Why would I be interested in High Performance Computing (HPC)? What can I expect to learn from this course?
09:30	2. Connecting to the remote HPC system	How do I open a terminal? How do I connect to a remote computer?
10:00	3. Moving around and looking at things	How do I navigate and look around the system?
10:20	4. Writing and reading files	How do I create/edit text files? How do I move/copy/delete files?
11:05	5. Wildcards and pipes	How can I run a command on multiple files at once? Is there an easy way of saving a command’s output?
12:00	6. Scripts, variables, and loops	How do I turn a set of commands into a program?
12:55	Finish

The actual schedule may vary slightly depending on the topics and exercises chosen by the instructor.