Parallel programming is fundamental, High School here we come

By James Reinders (Intel) (16 posts) on July 17, 2009 at 7:48 am

Teaching programming and teaching parallel programming - should they be different?

I don't think so.

We've always had many elements to teach when we teach programming - data structures, algorithms, databases, parsing, scheduling, etc. Parallelism is yet-another item to throw on the list of things to teach as part of programming.

With the introduction of multicore processors, it was obvious to me that parallelism would soon be a part of every system. We're pretty much there now.

However - parallel programming remains an advanced topic in graduate studies and notably absent from too many undergraduate courses.  Yes - we are making progress, and Intel's academic program is a major contributor to helping professors with material, ideas and sharing with like-minded professors.  But, it seems all too slow for me.

Actions speak louder than words.

Next week, I'll be at Brooklyn Technical High School helping teach parallelism to top notch high school students and some of their high school teachers. The learning will be both directions.

If parallel programming is fundamental to programming, then we need to figure out what aspects of it belong in high school. I'm confident we will figure it out, and this is an important step.

I plan to write some follow-ups based on the experiences as they happen. For now, I want to thank Randy Asher + Brooklyn Technical High School, Jeff Birnbaum + Bank of America, IBM (a 48-core system!!!), Blade Network Technologies and Intel for underwriting this effort and having the faith that 'parallel programming is fundamental.'

I'll also do an interview and discuss the experience afterwards with the Intel program 'Teach Parallel'  - although probably not on July 28 as currently scheduled. Before then, you can catch Jeff and Randy on July 21 talking about our plans.

Wish us luck, and stay tuned for our notes on what works and what does not.

Categories: Academic, Parallel Programming

Comments (6)

July 17, 2009 10:55 AM PDT


HaloHead		 Ah, at last! Someone who gets the fact that the future of basic SW program IS parallel! Thank you James (and Randy and Jeff)!!! Not to learn it (or teach it) as an integral theme to a programming education is criminal (Send 'em to Rikers Island!) Now to scale out this model from Brooklyn Tech HS to 1000s/10,000s of high schools across America (okay, the world) and then on to colleges and universities. I'd hate to think I have to send my son all the way to Brooklyn to get this education...do I?
July 17, 2009 11:43 AM PDT

Amy Barton (Intel)
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 Paul Steinberg will be doing a live broadcast of Think Parallel, interviewing Randy Asher and Jeffrey M. Birnbaum via webcam direct from the Clubhouse training on the first day.

Tuesday - July 21st. 2PM Eastern / 11am Pacific at http://intel.com/software/tv

It will be great to hear your show, James, on the results of the 3-day bootcamp!

Mark your calendars!
July 19, 2009 3:18 PM PDT


UX-admin		 This is it!

Engineers need to go back to academia and teach all the good things that industry has produced. Academia built the industry, now sharing and giving should go the other way. Students can and will benefit from CONCRETE KNOWLEDGE, which is very much needed.

What a great idea it is to have engineers teach! I've been dreaming of this day for a very long time!
July 20, 2009 10:40 AM PDT

Amy Barton (Intel)
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 More on this story - just posted: Are High School Whiz Kids Ready to "Think Parallel?"

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/clubhouse-parallel-universe/
July 22, 2009 2:35 PM PDT

rmedel
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 So many things & places to learn & teach, so little time!!

Here in Argentina we're still pushing parallelism at university level... and now we should start thinking about high-schoolers.

Congrats to the organizers of this experience! For sure we all will learn from this!
July 25, 2009 5:47 AM PDT

James Reinders (Intel)
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 The week went by very quickly indeed and was very rewarding for us all. The students were engaged, and the school was simply amazing. I'd sign up to do it again in a heartbeat. Aside from adjusting based on lessons learned, we have a challenge ahead with regards to the College Board AP exams for computer science. As one teacher told me "our hands are tied by the College Board" - referring to the idea that most high school computer science teaching is aimed at help students pass the AP computer science test. I'll wait for a future blog to share more thoughts on that. Even in an AP CS course - there are at leasta few weeks after the test is taken before school is out that we could squeeze in this topic, but I'm of the mind waving the key parallelism concepts in a little here and there is the right approach. This week at Brooklyn Technical High School - we did just that, and it was a great experience. Anyone interested in doing the same - drop me a note and we'll be happy to share ideas and materials.

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