The Parallell Computing with Python on Olivia course series

Drawing on our experience with introducing the Olivia machine and associated services, NRIS Training is now offering a course series targeted directly on how to utilize the most powerful of the NRIS/Sigma2 HPC machines, Olivia, in the most efficient way.

In this course series, we will guide you through practical steps and hands-on tasks to help you gain experience with parallel computing on Olivia using Python. Parallel computing can be divided into the following levels:

  • Code Optimization – Techniques to speed up Python code on a single CPU core.

  • Vector-Threading – Performing parallel computations within a single CPU core.

  • Multi-Threading – Parallel computing across multiple CPU cores on a single node.

  • Multi-Tasking – Executing parallel computations across multiple nodes (or within a single node).

  • Hybrid Parallel Computing – Combining multi-threading and multi-tasking for maximum efficiency by leveraging all levels of parallelism.

By the end of this series, you’ll have a solid understanding of these concepts and how to apply them effectively.

These seminars are at a basic-to-intermediate level, and targeted towards participants at the preceding OnBoarding event. However, these seminars will also be open to others.

Practical Information

  • Basic command line/linux workflows are expected to be known. (elements of the HPC Onboarding course given April 14-16.2026. Also, a certain level of experience with Olivia is expected.

  • The course is open to all and free of charge. However, signup is necessary to get access to course resources.

The course series happens 5 consecutive Wednesdays, starting from Wednesday Sept. 2nd until Sept. 30th 2026.

Instructors: - Jim-Viktor Paulsen

Content:
  • Episode 1: The basics and writing job scripts and Python codes with AI assistance.

  • Episode 2: Code Optimization and Vector-Threading

  • Episode 3: Multi-Threading and scaling tests

  • Episode 4: Multi-Tasking and scaling tests

  • Episode 5: Hybrid Parallel Computing and threads-per-task scaling tests

More details on the content will be provided later.

Event schedule:
  • 09:00: Start Presentation

  • 11:45: Presentation Finished

  • 12:30: Start Exercises

  • We will use Olivia for demos and hands-on sessions.

Coordinator

  • Eirik Skjerve

Code of Conduct

All course participants are expected to show respect and courtesy to others. We follow the carpentry code of conduct. If you believe someone is violating the Code of Conduct, we ask that you report it to the training team.

Contact us

You can always contact us by sending an email to support@nris.no.