The UTFSM Computer Systems Research Group: A Learn and Do Experience Matias Mora Klein Joao López Silva Mauricio Araya López Computer Systems Research Group Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María October 2008

Agenda ● Introduction ● History ● Projects – Current Projects – Development Style – Technologies – Research ● Organization ● Final Remarks – Ongoing Work – Organization Keys ● How can I participate?

Introduction ● Science – Research – Discover – Describe / explain ● Engineering – Apply technical and scientific knowledge – “An engineer can do for a dime what any fool can do for a dollar”

Introduction ● Mission: – Learn about real, complex and distributed systems. – Working side by side with world class projects. – Merging science with engineering. – “Learn and do”. ● Vision: – Develop useful and maintainable products using high standards. – Be known as an example of highest quality work and partnership. – Make all our knowledge useful to all mankind.

History : First summer internships at La Silla Observatory (ESO) 2004: Working with ESO / ALMA − ALMA Common Software (ACS) − ACS-UTFSM Group: 3-4 students 2005: First serious ACS product − Official ACS developers

History 2006: CSRG creation − ALMA-Conicyt Fund application − OLPC and Just-For-Fun projects − New office/laboratory 2007: Mostly ALMA-Conicyt development − About 12 students + 3 thesis students − 4 th ACS Workshop − 10 summer jobs at 6 different organizations

History 2008: CSRG is re-launched and joins PIE>A − New projects: SysAdmin and AiGos groups − CCI: Ciclo de Charlas Informáticas − New funds: I+D+i and infrastructure − Another ALMA-Conicyt application − New professors − About 10 conference publications − CSRG gets new organization structure and statutes!

Projects: Current Projects ● ALMA-UTFSM Group – ALMA-Conicyt # ( ) ● gTCS: Generic Telescope Control System ● ARPA: Alternative Real-Time Platform for ACS ● RAES: Repackaging ACS for Embedded Systems ● SWAT: SoftWare development, Analysis and Testing – LegoFarm (I+D+i 2008)

Projects: Current Projects ● SysAdmin Group – LiveCD (I+D+i 2008) – IPv6 research (DCSC and NIC support) – SymBad (OLPC contribution)

Projects: Current Projects ● AiGos: Artificial Intelligence for Games and On- line Systems – Yet Another Path Planner – Arimaa Bots – RoboTito

Projects: Current Projects ● CCI: Ciclo de Charlas Informáticas − Charlas Técnicas + Coloquios → CCI

Projects: Current Projects ● Just-For-Fun projects – ICPC contest – Course topics – Any crazy idea...

Projects: Development Style ● What do we need to develop? – Communication mechanisms – Software Configuration Management (SCM) – Coding style/standards – Distribution schema – Documentation standards – Testing – Bug tracking

Projects: Technologies ● Linux ● SVN / CVS ● GIT ● TWiki ● Trac ● Maildir ● Mailman ● FlySpray / Bugzilla ● Documentation ISO- 9001:2000 ● VmWare ● Skype ● Yahoo! ● Doxygen ● NFS ● LDAP

Projects: Research ● Technical Reports (every semester) – Internal DI publication ● Conferences – Local: JCC, JAIIO, SOCHIAS, minor gatherings – International: CLEI, SPIE, ADASS,... ● Next step: Journals

Organization ● Current staff – About 35 students – +4 thesis students – 3-4 professors ● Past generations – ~7 working/graduated former team members – External contacts

Period: Staff: 3-6 Organization

Period: 2006 Staff: ~10

Organization Period: 2007 Staff: ~15

Organization Period: 2008 Staff: ~40

Organization ● Coordination meetings – Weekly CSRG coordination – Weekly projects coordination – External coordination (telecon, visits) – Monthly plenary meeting ● Informal activities – Coffee breaks! – Outside activities...

Organization ● University official integration – Programa de Iniciativas Estudiantiles Académicas (PIE>A)

Organization ● Main external collaborations – ESO – NRAO – Fedora Linux project – NIC Chile – OLPC – Other Universities (PUC, UV, UCN,...)

Final Remarks: Ongoing Work ● Applying for new funds (UTFSM+Conicyt) ● Be better known in the community ● Agreement NRAO-UTFSM under discussion ● October: PIE>A at Puertas Abiertas ● November: 5 th ACS Workshop ● Summer: Internships in Chile, Germany and U.S.A.

Final Remarks: Organization Keys ● The keys are: 1. Much spare time 2. High quality work: technical, management, human 3. Compromise and common motivation 4. Summer internships 5. Global perspective 6. But mainly... Just for fun!

How can I participate? ● There is a long list of “just for fun” ideas ● A homework can be a future project ● Lots of funds are flying around ● We accept and help on any new interesting idea!

How can I contact you? (32) (2) Main office: Of. F-119, Casa Central UTFSM Valparaíso – Chile

Anything else you'd like to know?