[Yt-dev] Interest in a yt Workshop?

[j s oishi]

I would +1 New York if I didn't know how much hotels cost, and how
difficult they can be to book.

That having been said, if we're going to go to hubs, for maximum
cheapness, I would strongly +1 Chicago (because even if we stay at
O'hare hotels, the Blue line is right there to go straight to Wicker
Park, home of the world's most yt-appropriate coffee shop:
http://www.thewormholecoffee.com/_/HOME.html) or +1 Minneapolis,
because it is almost as awesome as Chicago.

j

On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 2:04 PM, Casey W. Stark <caseywstark at gmail.com> wrote:
> Not sure how much more expensive it is, but I would +1 a meeting in nyc.
> I've only been twice and it's easier for Matt, since he would probably
> prepare a lot of the material for a workshop. I'm not opposed to a workshop
> in a cheaper place, but I would love to see New York again.
>
> On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 1:51 PM, Geoffrey So <gsiisg at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Can add Denver (Frontier, may not be cheap), Atlanta (Delta), Dallas (AA)
>> to the list of cheap hubs.
>> Wife recommends against Minneapolis for winter visits.
>> From
>> G.S.
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> On Aug 29, 2011, at 1:18 PM, "Brian O'Shea" <bwoshea at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Matt et al.,
>>
>> After looking at your list, I agree there's definitely enough for a user
>> workshop, if that's your intention (and one could easily piggyback a
>> developer workshop, as per the Enzo summer 2010 workshop).
>>
>> If you were going to do a standalone workshop, and given that no
>> university that hosts a yt developer is in a particularly central or cheap
>> place, much less a (inexpensive)*(cheap) place, you might think of just
>> picking a city near the middle of the country that is a hub for at least one
>> airline (so that flights are cheap) and then just get a conference room and
>> block of rooms in a hotel near the airport.  The main point of the meeting
>> is for everybody to be in the same physical location, and it doesn't really
>> matter where precisely that place is, as long as it's convenient to get to.
>> To this end, some place like Chicago (United, American), Minneapolis
>> (Delta), or Detroit (Delta) might be adequate.
>>
>> Just a thought...
>>
>> -Brian
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 2:50 PM, Matthew Turk <matthewturk at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> This thread may now be cold, but I wanted to bring it back up briefly.
>>>  I've been in touch a little bit with XSEDE personnel as well as a
>>> number of yt developers, and we have attempted to brainstorm some
>>> ideas, which I sum up here.
>>>
>>> I think it is now certain that we will not be piggy-backing on the
>>> Enzo workshop.  The issue is not as much a problem of infrastructure,
>>> but rather of weariness on the part of the developers.  My feeling
>>> initially was that we could do a day and a half workshop, then move
>>> directly on to Enzo.  It has been impressed upon me that 1) we should
>>> have more than a day and a half 2) It would take a *lot* out of the
>>> developers to do this.
>>>
>>> This does not preclude piggybacking on an existing workshop in the
>>> future.
>>>
>>> I see three main opportunities for a workshop:
>>>
>>>  * Piggyback on Enzo or other 'numerical' event which would have a
>>> large number of interested people, such as XSEDE
>>>  * Host an isolated, standalone workshop
>>>  * Host an online workshop / office hours
>>>
>>> Marcel's comment about proximity to the NE corner of the country is
>>> well-taken; I too would like to be close to home.  I think we could
>>> also probably find a small amount of money for travel, from some
>>> source or another.  The idea of a virtual conference is somewhat
>>> appealing, but I am not as fond of webinars as others are, and I think
>>> we would have to have very short, targeted items if we did that.
>>> However, there are resources we could draw upon for webinars.  I think
>>> the most productive would be option #2, but I am not yet convinced we
>>> would be able to support such an endeavor as a community, and I still
>>> do not know where we would host it.  (Any institutions out there that
>>> could?)  Another alternative Sam has suggested which I like is instead
>>> to host office hours in IRC or G+ or something with video.
>>>
>>> However, one of the big questions that has come up with respect to a
>>> physical workshop is: what would we talk about?  I scribbled out a few
>>> items this morning that I think could fill a goodly amount of time,
>>> which I have included below.  My feeling from talking to others is
>>> that for it to be useful, we would need both beginner and advanced
>>> topics.  My list is at the bottom of this email -- after writing this
>>> out I kind of came around and felt like there is enough material to
>>> fill up a few sessions.
>>>
>>> Anyway, I'd like to solicit some thoughts on this.  Pretty much it
>>> comes down to:
>>>
>>> 1a) Physical (likely spring), virtual (anytime) or no workshop?
>>> 1b) If Physical, where?  (Specifically, which institutions or regions
>>> would you prefer, and could you volunteer your location?)
>>> 2) What do you think of the pseudo-agenda below?
>>>
>>> One last item is that I was the most skeptical about the feasibility
>>> of a workshop, and I have been brought around by other developers --
>>> who have impressed upon me that not only could we do this, we really
>>> *ought* to do it.  If not now, at some point in the future.
>>>
>>> Thanks everyone,
>>>
>>> -Matt
>>>
>>> * Agenda Ideas *
>>>
>>> = Using yt =
>>>
>>> - Introduction to yt -
>>> Jargon and terminology
>>> Installation
>>> How to start up
>>> How to write a script
>>> How to examine a simulation's characteristics
>>> Examining individual grids
>>> Slicing
>>> Projecting
>>> Command-line tool
>>>
>>> - Data handling in yt -
>>> How to think of data objects in yt
>>> What is a field? (also: my_plugins.py)
>>> Basics of select/instantiating a data object
>>> How to call and use a derived quantity
>>> What DQs and DOs are available?
>>> Phase plots (1-, 2-, 3-D)
>>>
>>> - Visualizing data -
>>> Projections, slices, and plot modifications
>>> Raw, stripped down plot objects
>>> Manually plotting data
>>>
>>> - Advanced data objects -
>>> Accessing attributes of data objects
>>> Cutting and subselecting data from objects
>>> Creating new data objects
>>> 1D and 2D objects
>>> Creating fields
>>> Clump finding
>>> Finding points
>>>
>>> - Advanced visualization -
>>> Writing your own plot callback
>>> Fixed resolution buffers
>>>
>>> - Volume rendering -
>>> What is "Volume Rendering"?
>>> How to use the camera
>>> How to write a transfer function
>>> Making animations: camera paths and normalization
>>> "Photo-realistic"
>>>
>>> - Astrophysical Analysis -
>>> Halo finding
>>> Halo analysis / halo profiler
>>> Halo mass functions
>>> Spectral energy distribution
>>> Star particle analysis
>>> Absorption spectra
>>>
>>> - Large data analysis -
>>> How to run in parallel
>>> What kind of datasets work well with parallelism?
>>> Do's and don'ts of parallel analysis
>>> Distributing work
>>>
>>> - Time series analysis -
>>> Full simulation
>>> Analysis objects
>>> Multi-level Parallelism
>>>
>>> - Reason -
>>> How to use reason
>>> How does reason work
>>> Advanced features
>>>
>>> = Advanced yt + Developing yt =
>>>
>>> - Overview of the yt community -
>>> Communication channels
>>> Source control
>>> Testing
>>> Documentation
>>> People
>>>
>>> - Mercurial -
>>> What is version control?
>>> What is distributed version control?
>>> What's a DAG?
>>>
>>> - Contributing changes -
>>> How to commit, share, and notify
>>> What to expect when you contribute
>>>
>>> - The yt testing system -
>>> How to write a test
>>> How do tests get run?
>>> What does it mean to 'pass' a test?
>>>
>>> - How to write a code frontend -
>>> What does yt expect from a simulation output format?
>>> What is necessary / expected
>>> Simple prototyping
>>> How to construct the necessary source files
>>>
>>> - Fast code and Cython -
>>> What is Cython?
>>> How do I compile and run Cython code?
>>> How to speed it up
>>>
>>> - Writing parallel code -
>>> How does yt use parallelism?
>>> What routines are available for parallelism?
>>> How to debug parallel code
>>>
>>> - Interfacing with external code -
>>> Raw C api
>>> Exporting data objects
>>> Cython for easy API usage
>>>
>>> - yt internals -
>>> Parameter file storage and pickling
>>> kD-trees
>>> Idiomatic yt
>>>
>>> On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 3:03 PM, Stephen Skory <s at skory.us> wrote:
>>> > Hi All,
>>> >
>>> > I would be interested in a yt workshop. If it's combined with the Enzo
>>> > workshop this fall, it would reduce the number of plane tickets. If we
>>> > wait until spring, it would be even easier for me, as we are thinking
>>> > about hosting that edition of Enzo workshop here at CU (unless someone
>>> > else steps forward with more enthusiasm and money).
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Stephen Skory
>>> > s at skory.us
>>> > http://stephenskory.com/
>>> > 510.621.3687 (google voice)
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Yt-dev mailing list
>>> > Yt-dev at lists.spacepope.org
>>> > http://lists.spacepope.org/listinfo.cgi/yt-dev-spacepope.org
>>> >
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