[vox] BayPIGgies meeting Thursday, July 22, 2010: A Technical Anatomy of SPM.Python

[jim]

BayPIGgies meeting Thursday, July 22, 2010: A Technical Anatomy of
SPM.Python 


Tonight's talk is the second of a two-part presentation: 
* A Technical Anatomy of SPM.Python 
by Minesh B. Amin 


Meetings usually start with a Newbie Nugget, a short discussion of 
an essential Python feature, especially for those new to Python. 
Tonight's Newbie Nugget: Why Use Decorators, by Glen Jarvis 


LOCATION 
Symantec Corporation
Symantec Vcafe
350 Ellis Street
Mountain View, CA 94043
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&ei=w6i_Sfr6MZmQsQOzlv0v&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=116202735295394761637.00046550c09ff3d96bff1&ll=37.397693,-122.053707&spn=0.002902,0.004828&z=18

BayPIGgies meeting information is available at 
http://www.baypiggies.net/ 


------------------------ Agenda ------------------------


..... 7:30 PM ...........................
General hubbub, inventory end-of-meeting announcements, any 
first-minute announcements. 


..... 7:35 PM to 7:45 PM ................
Newbie Nugget: Why Use Decorators, by Glen Jarvis 


..... 7:45 PM to 8:40 PM (or so) ................

July 22, 2010 -- Second of a two-part presentation: 
A Technical Anatomy of SPM.Python 
(A Scalable, Parallel Version of the Python Language) 
by Minesh B. Amin

Spm.Python, a commercial product, extends Python with a 
programming paradigm for solving parallel problems and 
strives to do so in a pythonic (natural) way by augmenting 
the serial Python language with parallel concepts like 
parallel task managers and communication primitives. 

This talk examines the what, why, and how of this 
augmentation. The context for and solutions to several 
(what were) open technical problems will be discussed, 
including 
- extending the general exception handling infrastructure 
across many compute resources,
- designing the parallel constructs in a way so that serial 
components are delineated from parallel components,
- designing and implementating a robust assumption tracking 
infrastructure (to avoid most forms of parallel 
deadlocks), 
- declaring and defining parallel closures (the building 
blocks of all parallel constructs).

Minesh B. Amin is the founder and CEO of MBA Sciences, which 
recently introduced the SPM.Python product that enables users 
to easily create parallel applications using an integrated 
Python API and framework. Minesh received his PhD in Computer 
Science from the University of Minnesota and moved to the 
Silicon Valley, developing software solutions at ViewLogic 
and Synopsys prior to starting MBA Sciences in 2006. He is a 
big fan of the Python language and in his spare time enjoys 
Pink Floyd, House, hiking and firing up a barbecue grill, 
though not necessarily in that order. :-)

Links: 
http://mbasciences.com/ 


..... 8:50 PM to 9:30 PM  ................
Mapping and Random Access

Mapping is a rapid-fire audience announcement of issues, hiring, 
events, and other topics. 

Random Access follows people immediately to allow follow up on the 
announcements and other interests.