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!style="background: #cccccc"| Quick Links
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|<div style="background:#ffff00">[[Winter 2015 Current SPO600 Weekly Schedule|Weekly Schedule]]</div>[[Winter 2015 SPO600 Participants|Participants and Project Table]]<br />[http://www.senecacollege.ca/ssos/findWithoutSemester/spo600/sict Course Outline]<br />[[SPO600 Course Policies|Course Policies]]<br />[http://linaro.org Linaro]<br />[http://performance.linaro.org Linaro Performance Challenge]<br />[http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/~chris.tyler/planet/ Planet CDOT]<br />
|}[[Category:SPO600]]
<!-- {{Admon/tip|Thinking of taking this course in Winter 2015?|[[SPO600 - Information for Prospective Students|Here is some information for prospective students.]]}}-->
= Software Portability and Optimization =
Software is sometimes written to work on a specific computer architecture (type of computer), such as on Intel-compatible x86_64 PCs, or IBM Z9 Z-series mainframes. This course deals with the challenge of making software compatible with a new architecture in one of two ways:
# Adding additional architecture-specific code so that the software can run on the new architecture ('porting' the software), or
# Removing the architecture-specific code and replacing it with architectural-neutral code, so that it can run on a variety of system architectures (making the software 'portable').
SPO600 is a professional option in the [http://ict.senecac.on.ca/ Seneca School of Information and Communication Technology] [https://ict.senecacollege.ca/academic-programs/cty/overview CTY] and [https://ict.senecacollege.ca/academic-programs/cpa/overview CPA] programs. First offered: Winter 2014.
== SPO600 in Winter 2015 Fall 2018 ==
A new computer architecture has appeared: 64-bit ARM systems (also known as "ARM64" or "AArch64"). While AArch64 is showing up in cell phones and tablets, it is also poised to pounce on the datacentre. Most of the work of porting core software to AArch64 has been completed, and at this point, just about everything that runs on x86_64 Linux systems will run an AArch64 systems. However, the x86_64 architecture has been around for many years, and software has been well-optimized to work on that architecture; but AArch64 is new, and it may be possible to get better performance with additional tuning and optimization.
In Winter 2015this semester, the SPO600 course will be focused on optimizing software on AArch64 systems, using the "LAMP" stack -- Linux[http://leapproject.ca LEAP], Apache, MySQL[http://fedoraproject.org Fedora], and Python[http:/PHP/Perl (or equivalents!) -- to make it run centos.org CentOS] projects as efficiently as possible on AArch64 systemsa starting point. We will build, benchmark, and profile be benchmarking the LAMP stack on x86_64 systems, then do the same performance of open source software stacks on AArch64, and identify areas for improvement. Then we'll experiment with compiler options, algorithm changes, and platform-specific code relative to optimize the raw performanceof the hardware and searching for optimization opportunities.
Note that, unlike some other project-based courses, the results of the projects done in SPO600 will be incorporated into the actual "upstream" open source software, and have a real impact on other people. For this reason, projects must be completed in collaboration with the relevant open source communities, using relevant [[SPO600 Communication Tools|communication tools]]. Work performed in this course will be licensed using the relevant open source licenses used by the associated community.
'''Required:'''
* You '''must''' be able to [[SSH]] to [[SPO600 Servers|computer systems ]] at Seneca (CDOT). You can do this using an SSH client program, included with or available for almost all platforms.
'''Strongly Recommended:'''
* Classes are held in an [[Active Learning Classroom]]. You '''should''' have a mobile device of some type (laptop, smartphone, tablet) with a wireless network connection (WiFi or mobile) and a video output (VGA or HDMI). If your video output is of a different type (DP/Miracast/MyDP/MiniDP/MiniHDMI/other) you will need an appropriate adapter.
* For productivity, you '''should''' have access to a personal Linux installation on a 64-bit (x86_64) computer (see [[SPO600 Host Setup]]).
* '''Optionally''', students in the SPO600 course may want to purchase a 64-bit [https://www.96boards.org/ 96Boards] computer (such as a [https://www.96boards.org/products/hikey/ HiKey] or [https://www.96boards.org/products/dragonboard410c/ DragonBoard 410c]) or alternately a [https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-3-model-b/ 64-bit Raspberry Pi 3b] -- but you will need to run a 64-bit operating system, such as [https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM/Raspberry_Pi Fedora AArch64].
=== Professor ===
1. '''Work ''in'' the open source community.''' The projects we will be doing are too large and too unfamiliar for you to succeed entirely on your own. You will need to use the community's knowledge, connections, and resources to succeed well. Respect the community's standards, tell the community what you're doing, ask when you have a question, and pull your own weight within the community.
2. '''Blog.''' Tell your professor, your colleagues, the community, and everyone else what you're doing. <u>Write a lot </u> and write well, include good technical content, and incorporate links to all relevant resources and the product of your work, and write often. Almost all of your work in this course is submitted by blogging. 3. '''Be ambitious.''' In this course, you will need to be the driving force behind your project. The community will help you, but it's up to you to supply the energy.
== Weekly Outline ==
See the [[Fall 2014 Current SPO600 Weekly Schedule]] for specific dates and topics.
== Course Outline ==
See the online [https://ict.senecacollege.ca/course/spo600 course outline] for course details.
