Software Training in HEP

Abstract

The long-term sustainability of the high-energy physics (HEP) research software ecosystem is essential to the field. With new facilities and upgrades coming online throughout the 2020s, this will only become increasingly important. Meeting the sustainability challenge requires a workforce with a combination of HEP domain knowledge and advanced software skills. The required software skills fall into three broad groups. The first is fundamental and generic software engineering (e.g., Unix, version control, C++, and continuous integration). The second is knowledge of domain-specific HEP packages and practices (e.g., the ROOT data format and analysis framework). The third is more advanced knowledge involving specialized techniques, including parallel programming, machine learning and data science tools, and techniques to maintain software projects at all scales. This paper discusses the collective software training program in HEP led by the HEP Software Foundation (HSF) and the Institute for Research and Innovation in Software in HEP (IRIS-HEP). The program equips participants with an array of software skills that serve as ingredients for the solution of HEP computing challenges. Beyond serving the community by ensuring that members are able to pursue research goals, the program serves individuals by providing intellectual capital and transferable skills important to careers in the realm of software and computing, inside or outside HEP.

Train to Sustain

“…The HSF/IRIS-HEP Software training group has developed a program [13][14][15] that serves as a training hub for new researchers in HEP and related nuclear, neutrino, astro and theory communities including scientists, postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students. The skills offered range from basic core software needed by everyone to the advanced training required by specialists in software and computing.…”

The HEP Software Foundation Community

“…In large part this reflects a strong didactic element in the Python area. This thread is reflected also in that the HSF, together with IRIS-HEP, SIDIS, The Carpentries and the ROOT project [18][19][20][21][22], has put a strong emphasis on training activities [23] and now runs regular training events in fundamental software skills and in C++ programming. This is seen as a critical activity in the field and attempts are now also being made to have these activities as feeders to encourage trainees to be involved in software development and training.…”