Are you using R but not sure how to make your R code to make best use of the computing resources available? Would you like to learn how to use parallel computing to speed up R analyses or identify bottlenecks in your R scripts? Join our new course that focuses on using R efficiently and making most of R in a high performance computing environment.

The topics of this course include:

• exploring the functional nature of the R language, and how it relates to the computer’s resource management
• exploring performance issues of R code by benchmarking, profiling processes and memory usage
• parallel and distributed computing with R on both local and supercomputing resources

The topics will be covered using short lectures and/or demonstrations followed by hands-on exercises using RStudio and batch jobs on the supercomputer Puhti. The participants are encouraged to bring their own R code (short script sections, not full projects) and a small data set (maximum 5 GB) to be used in the some of the exercises (but note that we do not solve any problems with the code itself).

Where & when:

This is a two-day course from 9:00 to 16:00. The course will be offered on-site at the CSC Training Facilities (Keilaranta 14, Espoo, Finland). A Zoom link can be provided to participants not able to join on-site, but please note that this is not a hybrid course so online participants will be offered limited support. For participants joining the course on site in Espoo, lunch and a snack is included in the price.

Learning outcomes:

After attending this course, participants will be able to:

• make use of the properties of R as a programming language to write efficient R code
• explore potential R code performance issues with benchmarking and profiling
• run R scripts with the batch job system on the supercomputer Puhti
• get started with parallel and distributed computing with R

Pre-requisites:

Required:

• basics of the R programming language

Useful to make most of the course content:

• basics of Linux (for example the self learning course CSC pre-requisite minicourse)
• some experience in using the supercomputer Puhti, for example experience using the RStudio in the Puhti web interface (puhti.csc.fi) or the course CSC Computing Environment or the corresponding self-learning course.

Target audience:

Anyone familiar with the basics of R and wanting to learn how to make their data analysis in R more efficient and learn to use R in a high performance computing environment. For example, current users of RStudio in the CSC’s Puhti web interface wanting to make most of the computing resources of the supercomputer Puhti in their analyses.

Lecturers:
Billy Braithwaite and Heli Juottonen (CSC)

Registration information:

Price
EUR 120 (+24% VAT) for Finnish Universities or institutions for higher education & Finnish state research institutions or government organizations
EUR 560 (+24% VAT) for Other

Registration deadline: 19.5.2024