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P5.10: Lammers, Jason
Jason Lammers (University of Maryland College Park)
Dr. Peter Teuben (University of Maryland College Park)






Theme: Science Platforms: Tools for Data Discovery and Analysis from Different Angles
Title: Optimization Strategies for running Legacy Codes

Legacy codes can be both incredibly useful as well as cumbersome. Although they produce robust results from well-defined problems, they plague the user with complex installations, complicated user interfaces, and inflexibilities. Short of rewriting such codes, scripts which emulate the effects of legacy codes can lead to tremendous overhead and more headache for the user. Nonetheless, these legacy codes can provide invaluable insight to a skilled user who takes the time to understand its inner workings. In this paper, we will showcase examples of the NEMO Stellar Dynamics Toolkit and how analysis simulation codes can be optimized using modern scripting languages. Not only is it possible, it is relatively easy to speed up computation time and increase user-friendliness by integrating modern scripting languages into codes which would otherwise overwhelm an inexperienced user.

Link to PDF (may not be available yet): P5-10.pdf