Infrastructure and Interfaces for Large-Scale Numerical Software

The complexity of large-scale scientiic simulations often necessitates the combined use of multiple software packages developed by diierent groups in areas such as adaptive mesh manipulations, scal-able algebraic solvers, and optimization. Historically , these packages have been combined by using custom code. This practice inhibits experimentation with and comparison of multiple tools that provide similar functionality through diierent implementations. The ALICE project, a collaborative eeort among researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, is exploring the use of component-based software engineering to provide better interoperability among numerical toolkits. We discuss some initial experiences in developing an infrastructure and interfaces for high-performance numerical computing.