University of New South Wales
Feb 13-14, 2014
9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Instructors: Daniel Falster, Rich FitzJohn, Diego Barneche
What: Our goal is to help scientists and engineers become more productive by teaching them basic computing skills like program design, version control, testing, and task automation. In this two-day bootcamp, short tutorials will alternate with hands-on practical exercises. Participants will be encouraged both to help one another, and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems during and between sessions. Attendants are offered online office hours: regular events to get one-on-one help from Software Carpentry instructors, online.
Who: The course is aimed at postgraduate students and other scientists who are familiar with basic programming concepts (like loops, conditionals, arrays, and functions) but need help to translate this knowledge into practical tools to help them work more productively.
Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a few specific software packages installed. (The list will be sent to participants a week before the bootcamp.)
Content: The syllabus for this bootcamp will include:
- using the shell to do more in less time
- using version control to manage and share information
- basic R programming
- how (and how much) to test programs
- documentation and debugging
Contact: Please mail a.letten@unsw.edu.au for more information.
This intensive 2-day Software Carpentry bootcamp will introduce attendees to a range of computing skills aimed at making them more productive and efficient in their work. A substantial focus of the workshop will be on improving programming skills in R, but will also include topics on version control, using the shell, and reproducible research. Short tutorials will alternate with hands-on practical exercises. Participants will be encouraged both to help one another, and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems during and between sessions.
Who
The bootcamp is targeted at postgraduate students and other researchers in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Please note that this is not an introductory R course and in order to get the most out of the bootcamp, attendees should have at least a basic knowledge of programming in R. However, please don't let that scare you off - if you'd like to attend but have never used R before, working through the online material covered in 'Day 1' of the NiceR code 'Introduction to R' will get you up to speed!Schedule
| 09:00 - 9:20 | Introduction |
| 9:20 - 10:00 | Intro to R |
| 10:00 - 10:20 | Break |
| 10:20 - 12:00 | Functions |
| 12:30 - 13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 - 14:00 | Project setup |
| 14:00 - 14:45 | Repeating things (loops) |
| 14:45 - 15:05 | Break |
| 15:05 - 16:00 | Repeating things (plyr) |
| 16:00 - 17:00 | Testing |
| 09:00 - 10:00 | Basic shell scripting |
| 10:00 - 10:15 | Break |
| 10:15 - 12:15 | Version control with git |
| 12:15 - 13:15 | Lunch |
| 13:15 - 14:00 | Git workflows |
| 14:00 - 14:30 | Break |
| 15:00 - 16:40 | Reproducible research with knitr |
| 16:40 - 17:00 | Wrap up |
Installation
Please follow these installation instructions.
Course notes
The materials covered in this botocamp are available here.