University of British Columba on The Carpentries

UBC Went Well

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Ted Hart and Ethan White just wrapped up a bootcamp at the University of British Columbia, and by all accounts it went very well:

Good

Bad

learn terminal
explanations are clear
SQLite is awesome
learn some Python
following along on screen
enthusiasm
content was relevant
practical software
SQLite is very helpful in data management
Etherpad
SQLite
SQLite: could use it tomorrow
like lots of problems with partners
iPython & SQLite
liked different levels as beginner so could get help
Etherpad ++ for collaborative note taking
current & up to date
Git
helpers and red light green light
pace was good
great intro to lots of methods (handled volume of info well)
free and open source software
good overview of things to improve workflow
collaborative notetaking and chating and small problems
Git from the command line (Linux guy)
Git & SQL, can use and share now
hands on problems well balanced with learning
good job balancing info and level variation

better examples of why Python is cool
disecting existing code
want to be inspired by an example of something cool
but not far enough to implement (longer)
cool projects
cheat sheets
brief one line explanation of everything before class & tailored workshops to specific disciplines
too hard to keep up
installation is much more difficult than R
fewer things so that we can actually use it
new to programming more exercises
not as clear how to use shell so less useful
shell: examples of why we should care, e.g., working across files
need to know more about iPython
lot of information, too much at times (fun stuff was at end)
didn't get to interconnecting the pieces (collaborative Git project) [group repo to play with]
group by OS or other similar interests
would have like to use Git from terminal
where are things coming from and going to
iPython notebook disconnected from scripting workflow
wanted SQL to R/Python (would have come back for another)
more time to integrate everything
why Python: spend a few minutes explaining why we chose it and what the alternatives are
expected it to be more advanced and focused on integration (more info)
"here's what you're going to learn" at beginning
not far enough in Python to know where to go next
some of the one and one help would have been good to share with the group
more difficult problems more collaboratively

Teaching R at UBC

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

This January we ran a second R-based bootcamp at the University of British Columbia over three days. It was taught by myself, Rick White, Bernhard Konrad, Davor Cubric and Jenny Bryan. The first day was a week before the last two days, and covered a basic introduction to R. The last two days was an advanced R workshop / Software Carpentry. We covered the following topics:

Two R Workshops at UBC in 2013

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We're pleased to announce two workshops in 2013 at the University of British Columbia:

Beginners R
Date: January 11, 1 Day
Venue: MSL 101
Format: 4×1.5 hour blocks

R Basics, workspace, working directory, projects in RStudio
Importing, exporting and cleaning data.
Data manipulation, aggregation and indexing.
Working with a statistical model object.

All of the above will include lattice graphics and the usefulness of data frames, and will focus on code not the mouse.

We Get Mail

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Hi Greg and Adina!

Two days ago I filled out the Software Carpentry survey which asked me, among other things, how much time I had saved using my new Software Carpentry skills. I filled out the I had not really saved that many hours yet (but that I was approaching computational problems in a different way and began implementing version control!).

However, that number of hours changed dramatically later that evening! In preparation for a talk I will give at a conference in a few weeks I was re-doing some analyses. I came to one which was very painful to me because it required using 3 different python scripts for several different files and repeating this for a range of numbers (so we're talking running 3 scripts about 20 times). I did not find this particular analysis very useful or informative, but it really makes my supervisor happy so I thought I should at least try to be a silver (or bronze) student and give it a whirl.

Feedback from the University of British Columbia

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Aaaand that's a wrap in Vancouver, ladies and gentlemen: our workshop at the University of British Columbia seems to have gone well:

Good	Bad
clarity data management sticky notes workflow overview/coverage resources coffee/snacks exercises how to use programming correctly learning terminal testing learning science Python helpers one step further version control modules on website anecdotes general philosophy (organic)	not enough Python too fast (esp 2nd day) hands-on (second day) needed warmup primer Greg's jokes resources (overwhelming) text editor software install issues too short crossover confusion too much on data management communication prior to course (software install) screen real estate more version control why better than MATLAB mystify setup

That's my last road trip until mid-July—it's good to have ended this round on a high note. My thanks again to Ian Mitchell, Adina Chuang Howe, and everyone else who helped or attended.