Introduction to Shell, Python, Version Control and Testing: Agenda

Room 3077, Building 32, Highfield Campus

The following agenda outlines what will be taught on the course. Additional notes on the teaching materials will be made available shortly after the course.

The software prerequisites for the lessons can be found here.

Day 1: September 17

09:00 - 09:30	Arrival, Welcome and Setup
09:30 - 10:00	Introduction
10:00 - 11:00	Automating tasks with the Unix shell The Unix shell is a power tool that allows you to do complex things with just few keystrokes by helping you in combining existing programs in new ways and automate repetitive tasks. This session guides you through the basics of file system and the shell and will start you on the path towards using powerful tools and computing resources. The following topics will be covered: Introducing the shell Files and Directories Creating things Pipes and Filters Loops Shell Scripts Finding Things
11:00 - 11:30	Break
11:30 - 12:00	Shell: Examples and practice
12:00 - 13:00	Break (Lunch not provided)
13:00 - 14:30	Python basics In this session, you'll learn good programming practices with an introduction to the fundamentals of Python. The following topics will be covered: Basics - e.g. Starting Python, using variables Working with arrays and lists Using libraries Reading and plotting data
14:30 - 15:00	Break
15:00 - 16:00	Building programs with Python This session will teach you how to design and build programs more productively and the tools and techniques that you can adopt to produce better code. The following topics will be covered: Basic program control - loops and conditionals Creating and using functions Using Python from the command line
16:00 - 16:30	Wrap-up of Day 1

Day 2: September 18

09:30 - 11:00	Version control with Git This session will teach you how to track and manage changes within your code, how to collaborate with other developers through a shared code repository, and generally improve the reproducibility of your research. The following topics will be covered: Creating and cloning repositories Committing changes to files: add, commit, ... Viewing changes: status, diff, ... Working with remote repositories, e.g. through GitHub: clone, pull, push, ... Resolving conflicts
11:00 - 11:30	Break
11:30 - 12:00	Git: Examples and practice
12:00 - 13:00	Break (Lunch not provided)
13:00 - 14:30	Writing robust code and unit testing with Python Does the code developed by you work the way it should do? Can you (or others) verify these assertions for themselves? And perhaps most importantly, to what extent are you confident of the accuracy of results that appear in publications? This session will teach you techniques of developing robust code and good unit tests to improve the predictability of a change, make development more productive and produce code that works as expected and produces desired results. The following topics will be covered: Introduction to Nose testing framework Writing and executing unit tests Defensive programming Handling exceptions Test-Driven development
14:30 - 15:00	Break
15:00 - 15:30	Unit testing: Examples and practice
15:30 - 16:00	Wrap-up and Feedback