The HEP Software Foundation (HSF) facilitates coordination and common efforts in high energy physics (HEP) software and computing internationally.
Current HEP software is the result of more than 20 years of development, and now must evolve to meet the challenges posed by new experimental programmes. In addition, the computing landscape is evolving rapidly and we need to exploit all the expertise available in our community, and in other scientific disciplines, in order to meet the technical challenges we are facing.
The objectives of the HSF as a community-wide organization are in sharing expertise; raising awareness of existing software and solutions; catalyzing new common projects; promoting commonality and collaboration in new developments to make the most of limited resources; aiding developers and users in creating, discovering, using and sustaining common software; and supporting career development for software and computing specialists.
In 2017 the HSF organised a Community White Paper initiative, which resulted in the publication of a Roadmap for HEP Computing. This document lays out the software and computing challenges that will be faced during the next decade and the roadmap of R&D that is needed to face them successfully.
As a recognized community organization the HSF can also provide a framework for attracting effort and support, and provide a structure for the community to set priorities and goals for the work. It can also facilitate wider connections; while the HSF is a HEP community effort, it should be open enough to form the basis for collaboration with other sciences.
The HSF Steering Group help run the organisation on a day to day basis. Please feel free to ask us any questions you have.