Day 1

09:30	Introduction and software set-up
10:00	Version control with Git
10:30	Coffee break
11:00	Version control with Git
13:00	Lunch break
14:00	Building programs with Python
15:00	Coffee break
15:30	Building programs with Python
17:00	Close

Day 2

10:00	Automating tasks with Make
11:00	Coffee break
11:30	Automating tasks with Make
13:00	Lunch break
14:00	Data Management with SQL
15:30	Coffee break
16:00	Data Management with SQL
16:45	Best practices for scientific computing
17:00	Close

Version Control with Git

• Creating a repository
• Recording changes to files: add, commit, ...
• Viewing changes: status, diff, ...
• Ignoring files
• Working on the web: clone, pull, push, ...
• Resolving conflicts
• Open licenses
• Where to host work, and why
• Reference...

Building programs with Python

• Using libraries
• Working with arrays
• Reading and plotting data
• Creating and using functions
• Loops and conditionals: for, if, else, ...
• Defensive programming
• Using Python from the command line
• Reference...

Automating tasks with Make

• Make is not just for compiling code
• Basic Tasks
• Automatic Variables and Wildcards
• Patterns
• Variables
• Reference...

Data Management with SQL

• Introduction to SQL
• Basic Queries
• Aggregation
• Joins and aliases
• Reference...

Editor

Make sure you install, or have available, a text editor that you are comfortable with using. When you're writing code, it's nice to have a text editor that is optimized for writing code, with features like automatic color-coding of key words.

The Bash Shell

Bash is a commonly-used shell. Using a shell gives you more power to do more tasks more quickly with your computer.

Git

Git is a state-of-the-art version control system. It lets you track who made changes to what when and has options for easily updating a shared or public version of your code on github.com.

Python

Python is becoming very popular in scientific computing, and it's a great language for teaching general programming concepts due to its easy-to-read syntax. We teach with Python version 3. Installing all the scientific packages for Python individually can be a bit difficult, so we recommend an all-in-one installer.

Make

Originally invented to manage compilation of programs written in languages like C, Make can be used to automatically update any set of files that depend on another set of files. This makes it a good solution for many data analysis and data management problems. While there are many build tools now in existence (e.g. ANT and CMake) they share the same fundamental concepts as Make.

Databases and SQL

SQL is a special-purpose language for describing operations on relational databases - a collection of data organised into tables.

Editor

nano is the editor installed by the Software Carpentry Installer, it is a basic editor integrated into the lesson material.

Notepad++ is a popular free code editor for Windows. Be aware that you must add its installation directory to your system path in order to launch it from the command line (or have other tools like Git launch it for you). Please ask your instructor to help you do this.

Git Bash

Install Git for Windows by download and running the installer. This will provide you with both Git and Bash in the Git Bash program.

Python

• Download and install Anaconda.
• Use all of the defaults for installation except make sure to check Make Anaconda the default Python.
• Note: Remember to choose Python version 3 if/when prompted.

Make

Once you have installed Git Bash you can install Make by:

• Download make.exe from here
• Place it in the bin directory where you installed Git Bash e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin.
• To test: open a Git Bash window, type make, and press Enter.
• You should see the following message

  make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.

  This means that Make was successfully installed. Otherwise, you'll see this error message:

  bash: make: command not found

SQLite

For this workshop we're going to use the Firefox SQLite Plugin. It works through the web browser Firefox.

• If you don't already have Firefox installed install Firefox
• Start Firefox
• Go to the plugin homepage.
• Click the "Add Now" button.
• Click "Install Now" on the dialog that appears after the download completes.
• Restart Firefox when prompted.
• Select "SQLite Manager" from the "Tools" menu and it will open within Firefox

Editor

We recommend Text Wrangler or Sublime Text. In a pinch, you can use nano, which should be pre-installed.

Bash

The default shell in all versions of Mac OS X is bash, so no need to install anything. You access bash from the Terminal (found in /Applications/Utilities). You may want to keep Terminal in your dock for this workshop.

Git

Install Git for Mac by downloading and running the installer. For older versions of OS X (10.5-10.7) use the most recent available installer available here. Use the Leopard installer for 10.5 and the Snow Leopard installer for 10.6-10.7.

Python

• Download and install Anaconda.
• Use all of the defaults for installation except make sure to check Make Anaconda the default Python.
• Note: Remember to choose Python version 3 if/when prompted.

Make

For OS X, version 10.9 (Mavericks) or above, download the Command Line Tools by doing:

xcode-select  --install

For more information, see the OSX Daily blog.

If you have an older OS X version and you do not already have access to make from within your shell, you will need to install XCode (which is free, but over a gigabyte to download).

• Go to the Apple app store
• Search for XCode
• Click Free
• Click Install App

Once XCode has installed:

• Click Applications
• Click XCode
• Select XCode→Preferences...
• Click Downloads
• Select Command Line Tools
• Click Install

You will now be able to run make within your shell.

SQLite

For this workshop we're going to use the Firefox SQLite Plugin. It works through the web browser Firefox.

• If you don't already have Firefox installed install Firefox
• Start Firefox
• Go to the plugin homepage.
• Click the "Add Now" button.
• Click "Install Now" on the dialog that appears after the download completes.
• Restart Firefox when prompted.
• Select "SQLite Manager" from the "Tools" menu and it will open within Firefox

Editor

Kate is one option for Linux users. In a pinch, you can use nano, which should be pre-installed.

Bash

The default shell is usually bash, but if your machine is set up differently you can run it by opening a terminal and typing bash. There is no need to install anything.

Git

If Git is not already available on your machine you can try to install it via your distro's package manager (e.g. apt-get or yum).

Python

We recommend the all-in-one scientific Python installer Anaconda. (Installation requires using the shell and if you aren't comfortable doing the installation yourself just download the installer and we'll help you at the workshop.)

1. Download the installer that matches your operating system and save it in your home folder.
2. Open a terminal window.
3. Type

   bash Anaconda-

   and then press tab. The name of the file you just downloaded should appear.
4. Press enter. You will follow the text-only prompts. When there is a colon at the bottom of the screen press the down arrow to move down through the text. Type yes and press enter to approve the license. Press enter to approve the default location for the files. Type yes and press enter to prepend Anaconda to your PATH (this makes the Anaconda distribution the default Python).
5. Note: Remember to choose Python version 3 if/when prompted.

Make

Make is a standard tool on Linux systems and should already be available.

SQLite

For this workshop we're going to use the Firefox SQLite Plugin. It works through the web browser Firefox.

• If you don't already have Firefox installed install Firefox
• Start Firefox
• Go to the plugin homepage.
• Click the "Add Now" button.
• Click "Install Now" on the dialog that appears after the download completes.
• Restart Firefox when prompted.
• Select "SQLite Manager" from the "Tools" menu and it will open within Firefox