Professor James Larus (School of Computer and Communication Sciences, IC-EPFL École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland) will give a lecture titled “Programming Non-Volatile Memory”, on 15th October, from 2.30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Abstract
New memory technologies are changing the computer systems landscape. Motivated by the power limitations of DRAM, new, non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies — such as ReRAM, PCM, and STT-RAM — are likely to be widely deployed in server and commodity computers in the near future. These memories erase the classical dichotomy between slow, non-volatile disks or SSDs and fast, volatile memory, greatly expanding the possible uses of durability mechanisms.
Taking advantage of non-volatility is not as simple as just writing data to NVM. Without programming support, it is challenging to write correct, efficient code that permits recovery after a power failure since the restart mechanism must find a consistent state in the durable storage. This problem is well-known in the database community, and a significant portion of a DB system is devoted to ensuring recoverability after failures. NVM differs, however, because its writes are fine-grain, low-cost, and go directly to memory, leaving little opportunity for software intervention.
This Distinguished Lecture is jointly organised by IST and INESC-ID.
Venue: Abreu Faro amphitheatre, Interdisciplinary building.
