deRSE19 - Konferenz für ForschungssoftwareentwicklerInnen in Deutschland

»ESPResSo: Experiences in lowering the entry barrier for new developers in a particle-based simulation package«

External contributors are critical to the sustainability of open source code, especially in academia due to the limited tenure of developers/users. Yet transition from user to developer is challenging for simulation softwares, which require a skill set somewhat outside the science curriculum. The ESPResSo package for coarse-grained simulations of magnetic and charged macromolecular systems coupled to hydrodynamics solvers underwent major structural and policy changes to enable contributions from a broader audience: codebase migration to C++/Python; outsourcing of core features to external libraries; automated testing for rapid feedback; publication of developer meeting reports. Consulting will be provided to external groups in the future.