Scala lunch

Are you a Scala user or enthusiast? Do you want to meet other people who are using Scala at EPFL? Then join us for the Scala Lunch! This time, we're having two exciting lightning talks.

Talk by Zily Tian
Title
Generalising Bulk-Synchronous Parallel Processing for Data Science: From Data to Threads and Agent-Based Simulations
Abstract
We generalize the bulk-synchronous parallel (BSP) processing model to make it better support agent-based simulations. Such simulations frequently exhibit hierarchical structure in their communication patterns which can be exploited to improve performance. We allow for the creation of temporary artificial network partitions during which agents synchronize only locally within their group in a way that does not compromise the correctness of a simulation. We have built a distributed engine, CloudCity, which uses this idea to improve the locality of computation, communication, and synchronization in such simulations. We experimentally evaluate the performance of our system on a benchmark of simulation workloads and compare it against other popular BSP-like systems, obtaining insights into the impact of various system design choices and optimization on simulation engine performance.

Tall by Solal Pirelli
Title
Safe Low-Level Code Without Overhead is Practical
Abstract
Developers write low-level systems code in unsafe programming languages due to performance concerns. The lack of safety causes bugs and vulnerabilities that safe languages avoid. We argue that safety without run-time overhead is possible through type invariants that prove the safety of potentially unsafe operations. We empirically show that Rust and C# can be extended with such features to implement safe network device drivers without run-time overhead, and that Ada has these features already

Scala is a programming language developed at EPFL. It started as an academic programming language to try out better ways to write software and has since become a popular language in the industry. Scala is used in many different domains, from web applications to data science, and is used by many companies, including Twitter, Netflix, Disney, and many more.

The Scala Lunch is an opportunity to share a meal with other EPFL Scala enthusiasts. Bring your lunchbox and join us for a casual meal, find out what excites the others about Scala, and share your own excitement.