Python for Grid-, Cloud-, and High-Performance-Computing

Abstract

Python is an accepted high-level scripting language with a growing community in academia and industry. It is used in many scientific applications in many different scientific fields and in more and more industries (for example, in engineering or life science). In all fields, the use of Python for high-performance and parallel computing is increasing. Several organizations and companies are providing tools or support for Python development. This includes libraries for scientific computing, parallel computing, and MPI. Python is also used on many core architectures and GPUs, for which specific Python interpreters are being developed. Also, Python is used for Grid- and Cloud-aware applications. Many existing libraries support Python developers for that. Python especially is used by scientists and engineers. The talk describes, why Python is used, as well as the specific advantages and current drawbacks of Python for scientific applications. And predictions of future uses of Python are presented, combined with hints and best practices to the get major improvements in the development of distributed and HPC applications.