University of Washington on The Carpentries

Data Science for Social Good: an Experiment in Data Science Training

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Data science faces many challenges in the traditional academic setting. At the same time, many research fields are becoming increasingly dependent on data science tools and techniques. A key element in tackling these challenges is the education of a new generation of researchers that are fluent in both their research domain and in data science methodologies. In this post, we discuss an immersive approach to training in data science, the University of Washington eScience Institute's inaugural Data Science for Social Good (DSSG) program.

University of Washington Becomes Software Carpentry Partner

Tue, 03 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are very pleased to announce that the eScience Institute at the University of Washington has become a partner of the Software Carpentry Foundation.

Workshops at the Data Science Centers

Thu, 30 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are pleased to announce that we will be running workshops simultaneously at the data science centers at UC Berkeley, New York University, and the University of Washington on March 17-18, 2014. These workshops will introduce participants to the skills they should master before they tackle anything with "cloud" or "peta" in its name, including task automation, version control, modular programming, and structured data management. Novice and intermediate learners alike are welcome; for more information on topics and other details, please mail us or check out the registration pages for the three sites:

Teaching with ipythonblocks at UW

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The recent University of Washington bootcamp was my first chance to try teaching Python with ipythonblocks, and it was a great success!

The students reported that the immediate feedback from ipythonblocks was a great way to see what their code was doing. We were able to move quickly through topics like for-loops and if-statements in relative comfort, and even cover slicing with ease.

Feedback from UW Room B

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Doug Latornell and Matt Davis taught in "Room B" at the recent University of Washington bootcamp. It was a great group of very enthusiastic students! Thanks also to our very capable helpers Jake Vanderplas and David Leen!

Here's our traditional good/bad feedback:

Good	Bad
Learning about Python and NumPy, especially the practice exercises.	Too much shell stuff (already shell proficient).
We talked about best practice issues in software development.	Difficult to keep up with instructor when switching between screens.
Great holistic crash course on Python and git. Did well with a range of expertise the room.	Too much typing while trying to listen.
Overall great intro to many great topics.	Would have preferred basic Python scripting instead of NumPy intro.
The one-on-one help and the exercises.	matplotlib and NumPy were a little dry.
Pace was quick, almost too fast, but not quite!	The Python part was rushed and we didn't have time to see all of the code.
Intuitive approach.	Command line tutorial was slow (but that was probably necessary for some).
Intro to IPython Notebook.	A bit too fast in some content.
Very well structured. Good collection of topics for introduction. Staff very responsive.	NumPy section could use more exercises/interaction.
Very helpful and useful.	Wanted to learn about SciPy.
The existence of Software Carpentry and the integrated exercises.	The software engineering felt too rushed -- if I made an error in my code I easily fell behind and was lost.
	Wanted just Python.

Washington Went Well

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Last week, we put on the largest Software Carpentry bootcamp ever at the University of Washington: three rooms, six instructors, ten helpers, and 93 students spent two days together learning about Python, Git, the Unix shell, and a bunch of other useful things. Many thanks to Prof. Bill Howe for making it all possible—we look forward to coming back soon.