UK Met Office on The Carpentries

What I Learned From Software Carpentry

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Anna Maidens, who works for the UK Met Office in Exeter and took part in our October 2010 Software Carpentry course there, did a presentation a few weeks ago to her team about what she learned. She has kindly given permission for us to post those slides; as always, we're eager to hear what other people have taken away from the course as well.

Feedback at UKMO

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

I've just finished teaching a four-day version of the course at the UK Met Office in Exeter. I think it went reasonably well, even if we did version control last instead of first :-). Here's the feedback the students gave me:

Good

Most of what the instructor told us was probably true!
Liked the emphasis on the human aspects of software development
Liked the emphasis on evidence-based software engineering
Lots of details on how to do testing
Liked it when the instructor went off on tangents
Liked having pointers to more material
Instructor enthusiastic
Lots of stuff on course web site
Enjoyed learning a new language
Finally had someone explain why to make code readable
Nice mix of concepts and details
Modular course design allowed me to catch up when I got lost

Bad

Interview: David Jackson at the UK Met Office

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The second of today's sponsor interviews is with David Jackson from the UK Met Office.

Tell us a bit about your organization and its goals.

You can find out more about us at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk, but broadly speaking, we:

predict the weather for tomorrow, next week, next season and beyond;
are a significant contributor to the global understanding of climate change;
are leading researchers of weather science;
provide forecasts for sporting events such as Wimbledon and Open Golf;
stand shoulder to shoulder with Armed Forces around the world;
help keep roads open and planes flying;
inform the decisions and policies of businesses and governments across the world;
help the National Health Service provide preventative healthcare.

Our group is focussed on research.