Funding, News and Announcements

Message from ACENET

Our fall training kicks off next week. Check out the ones happening over the next few weeks below, but for a full listing of upcoming sessions, see our website. All ACENET sessions are online through the fall.

Basics of Computers
15 September, 1300-1500hrs Atlantic / 1330-1530hrs NL
Most of us have experience using a computer, whether for school, work, or entertainment, but how many of us have actually had an expert teach us how to use it? It doesn't need to be (quite) this way. This talk won't teach you how to troubleshoot everything, but will give you insight to how media, programs and data are encoded and used by computers, so you can make more sense of why computers behave the ways they do, and solve some of your problems with greater efficiency and less frustration. We will provide an approachable overview of how a computer works, by both looking at their history and breaking one down to explain individual components, before highlighting some of the trade-offs to consider when buying a computer. We will provide practical, simple, and actionable advice on digital security and show you a few "pro tips" on how to make the most of your workstation, phone, or whatever device you happen to use. Whether you have a lot or a little experience using your digital technology, if you want to learn how to use your devices more effectively, this workshop is for you!  DETAILS & REGISTER

ACENET Basics: Introduction to High Performance Computing (HPC)
19 September, 1000-1130hrs Atlantic / 1030-1200hrs NL
What is High Performance Computing (HPC) and what can it do for me? How can ACENET help? Used by researchers across many disciplines to tackle analyses too large or complex for a desktop, or to achieve improved efficiency over a desktop, this session takes participants through the preliminary stages of learning about high performance computing (HPC) and computing clusters, and how to get started with this type of computing. It then reviews software packages available for applications, data analysis, software development and compiling code. Finally, participants will be introduced to the concept of parallel computing to achieve much faster results in analysis. This session is designed for those with no prior experience in HPC, and are looking for an introduction and overview.  DETAILS & REGISTER

ACENET Basics: Introduction to Linux
20 September, 1000-1130hrs Atlantic / 1030-1200hrs NL
Linux is the terminal interface used to enable you to use supercomputing clusters from your desktop. It's the tool you need to get your data on the clusters, run your programs, and get your data back. In this session, learn how to create and navigate directories for your data, load files, manage your storage, run programs on the compute clusters, and set file permissions. This workshop is designed for those with no prior experience in working with a terminal interface. DETAILS & REGISTER

ACENET Basics: Introduction to Shell Scripting
21 September, 1000-1130hrs Atlantic / 1030-1200hrs NL
Shell scripting helps you save time, automate file management tasks, and better use the power of Linux. You’ll learn how to use the command line to carry out repetitive tasks, extract information from files quickly, combine commands in powerful ways, learn about job scripts, shell variables and looping commands, and capture a workflow so you can re-use it easily. Save time, reduce errors, and use Linux more effectively. This workshop is designed for either new High Performance Computing (HPC) users who are familiar with working in a Linux environment, or for experienced users seeking to get more out of shell scripting. It is one of the core courses to help users get up and running on ACENET and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada systems. Prerequisite: ACENET Basic Series Introduction to Linux, or previous experience with Linux.  DETAILS & REGISTER

ACENET Basics: Job Scheduling with Slurm
22 September, 1000-1130hrs Atlantic / 1030-1200hrs NL
The national systems use a job scheduler called “Slurm”. In this session you will learn how Slurm works and how it allocates jobs, helping you to: minimize wait time by framing reasonable requests; ask for only the resources you need to improve efficiency; increase throughput; run more jobs simultaneously; and troubleshoot and address crashes. This workshop is designed for new HPC users, or for experienced users either transitioning to Slurm or seeking to improve efficiency with the scheduler. Prerequisites: Completion of Introduction to Linux and Introduction to Shell Scripting, or prior experience with both.  DETAILS & REGISTER

Introductory Programming with Python
27 September, 4 October, 1300-1630hrs Atlantic / 1330-1630hrs NL
This is a beginner level series that is hands-on, covering the fundamentals of Python. This includes data types, conditional statements, loops and functions, as well as program design, version control, data management, and task automation. The goal is to teach the practical knowledge needed to start programming, debugging and using Python in everyday tasks. You do not need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented or previous programming experience but intermediate level experience with a computer is highly recommended. Prerequisites: none. DETAILS & REGISTER

Cloud from A to Z
17, 19, 24, 26 October, 1300-1600hrs Atlantic / 1330-1630hrs NL
Cloud computing provides great flexibility, allowing complete control of the computing environment. In addition, the environment can be copied, backed up, created and recreated in an automated way. In these lessons, we will start you on the path towards making use of the great flexibility and power of cloud computing. We will be using the popular static website generator Jekyll. Prerequisite: Completion of Software Carpentry's Unix Shell, or similar experience. DETAILS & REGISTER

Introductory Programming with R
18, 25 October, 1300-1630hrs Atlantic / 1330-1700hrs NL
This is a beginner level series that is hands-on, covering the fundamentals of R. This includes data types, functions, importing, manipulating and analyzing data and data visualization, as well as program design, version control, data management, and task automation. The goal is to teach the practical knowledge needed to start programming, debugging and using R in everyday tasks. You do not need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented or previous programming experience but intermediate level experience with a computer is highly recommended. DETAILS & REGISTER

From Our Partners

More training sessions can be viewed from our partners at Calcul Québec, Compute Ontario, and for research data management, the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.