I am El Arbi Belfarsi, a PhD Candidate in Computer Science at Kennesaw State University. My academic journey began with a BS in Computer Science from Al Akhawayn University. I have gained substantial software development experience across various industries, including financial services, retail groups, and education. Currently, I am working under the mentorship of Michael Gardener and Ming Wang to enhance the generation of platform artifacts for HPCC system builds. My professional experience includes roles as a Graduate Research Assistant at KSU, Software Engineer at Acatium, Python Developer at ETX Capital, and Python Instructor at Skillademia. My expertise spans software engineering, Python development, and educational instruction.

Poster Abstract

The project to update and improve the generation of platform artifacts for HPCC Systems builds involves transitioning the CI/CD workflow from Jenkins to GitHub Actions, utilizing Python for automation. This initiative aims to replace an existing web service with a Python script that manages tasks such as fetching assets, extracting metadata, and saving this information as JSON objects. The workflow leverages GitHub Actions for seamless automation and integration, incorporating essential steps like setting up AWS credentials, logging into Docker Hub, pulling and running Docker images, and uploading results to GitHub and AWS S3 while providing security using GitHub secrets.

This work offers a comprehensive learning experience in modern CI/CD practices, including understanding the HPCC Systems build process, and using tools like GitHub Actions and Docker. Regular expressions are employed to retrieve necessary metadata, with a Python dictionary mapping IDs to OS information, providing extendibility. This project eliminates the manual labor involved in uploading assets to the correct directory structure in AWS. The use of Python 3 enhances flexibility and maintainability for developers, while the controllability of cloud storage ensures efficient management.

Through this project, I aim to streamline the build process, enhance automation, and contribute to the efficiency and reliability of the HPCC Systems platform, ultimately benefiting the broader open-source community.

Presentation

In this Video Recording, El Arbi provides a tour and explanation of his poster content.

Improving the Generation of Platform Artifacts for HPCC Systems Builds:

Click on the poster for a larger image.