This one-day course will provide an introduction to the PETSc library which provides a toolkit for distributed linear algebra, in particular of solvers for sparse linear algebra systems. The PETSc library is installed and supported on the TACC Lonestar and Champion systems; it will be provided on Ranger.
PETSc, the Portable Extendible Toolkit for Scientific computing, is an open source product that is under continued development at Argonne National Lab. It is probably the most powerful numerical linear algebra in existence at the moment, and it has excellent support from the developers. The library is a combination of high level solvers (linear systems, nonlinear, time-stepping) and low level tools, making it possible for users to develop their own parallel algorithms. Additionally, PETSc has interfaces to a number of external libraries, making it possible to use the Hypre library, Spooles and Mumps direct solvers, TAO for optimization, PVODE for ODE solving, et cetera. There are facilities for profiling and debugging. This course will cover the basics of PETSc, with enough information to let users solve common problems. More obscure aspects of the library will be discussed sufficiently that the users will be aware of their existence and capabilities.
- basics of PETSc use
- PETSc objects
- solvers and external libraries
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