Aleksandr Penskoi

Senior software engineer, researcher, and teacher. I research multi-level computer systems, from processor microarchitecture to compilers and domain-specific languages. I teach computer architecture and functional programming at ITMO University and build developer tools for FHIR healthcare data at Health Samurai.

Highlights

• Ph.D. – architecture of multi-level computer systems (publications).
• NITTA – CAD platform for hard real-time CGRA processors (paper).
• Wrench – CPU simulator and auto-grader: 67,000 student programs from April 2025 to November 2026.
• Book – Computational Process Organization (Leanpub, in progress).
• Leadership – founded and lead NITTA; architected and managed a research project on distributed manufacturing planning.
• Industry – energy metering, manufacturing planning, and FHIR SDK generation at Health Samurai.

Teaching

• Associate Professor, Software Engineering and Computer Systems Faculty, ITMO University, Russia.
• Associate Professor, HDU-ITMO Joint Institute, Hangzhou Dianzi University, China.
• Visiting faculty, 17th Global Week at Chitkara University, India, October 2018.

Courses:

• Архитектура компьютера in Russian
  Как устроены компьютерные системы и почему?
• Функциональное программирование in Russian
  Для тех, кто не хочет программировать за еду
• Computational Process Organisation
  How to describe computational process in a different way?
• Системная инженерия in Russian
  Архитектурное моделирование компьютерных систем

Projects

• @atomic-ehr/codegen
  Code Generation Toolkit for FHIR SDKs in TypeScript, Python, and C#
• NITTA
  Tool for Hard Real-Time CGRA Application Specific Processors
• SLAP
  Student Lesson & Attempts Platform for University Courses with Multiple Teachers
• Wrench
  CPU Simulator, Assembler, and Auto-Grading Toolkit for Teaching Computer Architecture
• Course Bot archived
  Telegram Bot for Course Automation
• TailBook archived
  Help People to Help Homeless Animals to Help Society

Blog

• Функциональный уход за Research Pet Project: NITTA, CGRA, Haskell, верификация и тестирование
  // 11 июля 2024
• Комментарии к Paul Clements et al. 'Documenting Software Architectures. Views and Beyond'
  // 5 октября 2021
• Open Dais: Software Verification on the ASIP CAD Example or How to Trust Your Team and Yourself
  // 29 April 2021
• Мастер-класс: Microsoft Word с минимальной болью
  // 11 февраля 2021
• NITTA: принципы работы
  // 3 февраля 2021
• Семинар: Проблема оценки инструментов архитектурного уровня
  // 11 ноября 2020
• Зачем причинять образовательный процесс?
  // 22 июня 2020
• Подход к разработке учебной программы по специальности вычислительные системы и сети
  // 10 июня 2020
• Понятие киберфизической системы считать вредным*
  // 15 ноября 2019
• NITTA: Почему Haskell?
  // 15 февраля 2018

For Students

I can supervise your bachelor’s or master’s thesis. My projects above can provide a topic, or we can work on one of these:

Theoretical Topics

1. Data Modeling: Learn how to effectively represent domain-specific data, formalize it, and interpret it. Discover methods to seamlessly integrate data models into software systems.
2. Architectural Design: Explore techniques for visualizing system architecture and leveraging architectural descriptions within the design and implementation processes.
3. Systems Engineering: Gain insights into holistic system understanding, identifying critical components and questions, and assessing the overall quality of your system.
4. Engineering Methods: Understand how to approach the development process methodologically but simply, and navigate project management challenges when everything seems to go awry.

Technical Topics

1. Functional Programming: Explore alternative approaches to software development that revolve around functional programming principles. Applying it to real projects.
2. Domain-Specific Languages: Discover how to streamline the programming process and understand why Domain-Specific Languages may not always be the best solution. eDSL integration in the host language.
3. Distributed Systems: Learn the best practices for designing and implementing distributed systems, taking into account specific business requirements.
4. Software Verification: How do you make sure that the system developed meets expectations? How do I formulate these expectations?