Basic Research Needs in The Science of Scientific Software Development and Use: Investment in Software is Investment in Science
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Increasingly powerful and affordable computing has revolutionized scientific and scholarly discovery across a broad range of fields. Computing relies on software, which has been rapidly growing in scope, diversity, and complexity. At the same time, the methods, processes, and tools used to produce and utilize this essential software are often ad hoc, and the study and improvement of them are often done without the benefit of direct funding or prioritization. Consequently, concerns are growing about the productivity of the developers and users of scientific software, its sustainability, and the trustworthiness of the results that it produces. Increased investment, especially in the characterization and improvement of how scientific software is developed and used, is important for sustaining and improving the impact of software as the scope and complexity of scientific efforts expand. Without this investment, we face the risk of diminishing returns on our software investments because the demands for increased functionality, usability, reliability, and more will not be sufficiently met. The US Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE/SC) is at the forefront of modern software-enabled scientific discovery across numerous areas of computational, experimental, and observational science, including major investments in national user facilities that support these activities. For many years, DOE/SC software investments have provided tremendous value to the scientific community. We want to continue and further improve the value of DOE/SC software efforts by using a scientific approach to understanding and improving how scientific software is developed and used. In December 2021, the DOE/SC Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) convened a workshop on basic research needs for the Science of Scientific-Software Development and Use (SSSDU). Through keynote presentations, lightning talks, and breakout groups, which built on insights from 124 pre-workshop position papers, participants discussed the current practice of software development, maintenance, evolution, and use, and considered how the scientific method could be used to examine these practices and develop more evidence-based approaches to enhance the impact of software and computing on all areas of science. Workshop participants identified three priority research directions (PRDs) and three important crosscutting themes that center on the following overarching insight: Software has become an essential part of modern science, impacting discoveries, policy, and technological development. To maintain and improve confidence in science delivered via software, we must improve the processes and tools that help us create and use software, and this enhancement requires a deep understanding of the diverse array of teams and individuals doing the work.
- Research Organization:
- US Department of Energy (USDOE), Washington, DC (United States). Office of Science
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
- OSTI ID:
- 1846009
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Workshop on the Science of Scientific-Software Development and Use, Held Virtually (United States), 13-15 Dec 2021; Related Information: https://web.cvent.com/event/1b7d7c3a-e9b4-409d-ae2b-284779cfe72f/summary
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Position Papers for the ASCR Workshop on the Science of Scientific-Software Development and Use
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