High performance computing in Julia

Convenor: Jamie Mair (Nottingham)

Module available for self-study from 04/02/2026.

Module Details

This module has been designed to teach High Performance Computing to new Masters/PhD students. We start from the basics and workup to writing high performance code for any scale. This module will primarily be delivered via the Midlands Physics Alliance Graduate School (MPAGS). The module is open to anyone else who is interested in the material upon request. All of the resources (including the lecture notes) will be available publicly through the website.

The preferred way to enrol is to sign up via the Module Registration form on the MPAGS website. Please do this before February 4th 2026. If you wish to join part way through the course, please get in touch with me via email and I will add you to the mailing list. All assignments will be sent out via the mailing list.

Students taking this course should match following description:

1. Have at least some limited experience with programming in any language, e.g. Python, MATLAB, C/C++ etc.
2. Basic mathematics skills, including elementary algebra and calculus.
3. Willingness to learn something new!

No prior knowledge about the Julia programming language is required as this course will provide a crash course to get everyone up to speed at the start of the module. Topics learnt during this course are not based solely around Julia, but can be transferred to other languages.

This module will focus on teaching students how to write high performance code, taking advantage of modern hardware. Upon competition, students will be able to execute code at any scale, from your own machine with multiple cores, to using a GPU, all the way to executing code across an entire High Performance Cluster.

Delivery

This course will primarily be taught through online videos (available on YouTube) with corresponding supplemental material on the main website.

Assessment

Each week of teaching will have a corresponding assessment delivered via GitHub classroom, for a total of 5 assessments, with the first being optional. The assignments are each pass/fail. Details on the assignment format are found in the second lecture video.

The assignments will close on the 30th April 2026. If you require confirmation of completing the course, please email me directly asking for the results.