The Carpentries project comprises the Software Carpentry, Data Carpentry, and
Library Carpentry communities of Instructors, Trainers, Maintainers,
helpers, and supporters who share a mission to teach foundational computational and data science
skills to researchers.
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Software Carpentry
aims to help researchers get their work done
in less time and with less pain
by teaching them basic research computing skills.
This hands-on workshop will cover basic concepts and tools,
including program design, version control, data management,
and task automation.
Participants will be encouraged to help one another
and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems.
Who:
The course is aimed at Reclamation staff with a focus toward scientists and engineers.
You don't need to have any previous knowledge of the tools
that will be presented at the workshop.
Where:
Building 67 - Denver Federal Center & Virtual.
Get directions with
OpenStreetMap
or
Google Maps.
Requirements:
Participants must bring a Windows laptop installed with the necessary software. Please follow the instructions as provided to conform
with both the Reclamation software environment and the tools that will be utilized for the class. If your system has other versions of Python
(ie arcpy) please still install the version for the class to make sure all features are available.
They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed below).
Accessibility:
We are committed to making this workshop
accessible to everybody.
The workshop organizers have checked that:
The room is wheelchair / scooter accessible.
Accessible restrooms are available.
We are dedicated to providing a positive and accessible learning environment for all.
We do not require participants to provide documentation of disabilities or disclose any unnecessary personal information.
However, we do want to help create an inclusive, accessible experience for all participants.
We encourage you to share any information that would be helpful to make your Carpentries experience accessible.
To request an accommodation for this workshop, please fill out the
accommodation request form.
If you have questions or need assistance with the accommodation form please email us.
Glosario is a multilingual glossary
for computing and data science terms. The glossary helps
learners attend workshops and use our lessons to make sense of computational and programming jargon written in English by offering it
in their native language. Translating data science terms also provides a teaching tool for Carpentries Instructors to reduce barriers
for their learners.
Roles:
To learn more about the roles at the workshop (who will be doing what),
refer to our Workshop FAQ.
Code of Conduct
Everyone who participates in Carpentries activities is required to conform to the Code of Conduct. This document also outlines how to report an incident if needed.
Surveys
Please be sure to complete these surveys before and after the workshop.
To participate in a
Software Carpentry
workshop,
you will need access to software as described below.
In addition, you will need an up-to-date web browser.
Run the installer and follow the steps below. You should be able to do it as a local user without any admin credentials.
Click on "Next" four times (two times if you've previously installed Git). You don't need to change anything
in the Information, location, components, and start menu screens.
From the dropdown menu, "Choosing the default editor used by Git", select "Use the Nano editor by default" (NOTE: you will need to scroll up to find it) and click on "Next".
On the page that says "Adjusting the name of the initial branch in new repositories", ensure that
"Let Git decide" is selected. This will ensure the highest level of compatibility for our lessons.
Ensure that "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software" is selected and
click on "Next". (If you don't do this Git Bash will not work properly, requiring you to
remove the Git Bash installation, re-run the installer and to select the "Git from the
command line and also from 3rd-party software" option.)
Select "Use bundled OpenSSH".
Ensure that "Use the native Windows Secure Channel Library" is selected and click on "Next".
Ensure that "Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings" is selected and click on "Next".
Ensure that "MinTTY" is selected and click on "Next".
Ensure that "Default (fast-forward or merge) is selected and click "Next"
Ensure that "Git Credential Manager" is selected and click on "Next".
Ensure that "Enable file system caching" is selected and click on "Next".
Click on "Install".
Click on "Finish" or "Next".
If your "HOME" environment variable is not set (or you don't know what this is):
Open command prompt (Open Start Menu then type cmd and press Enter)
Type the following line into the command prompt window exactly as shown:
setx HOME "%USERPROFILE%"
Press Enter, you should see SUCCESS: Specified value was saved.
Quit command prompt by typing exit then pressing Enter
This will provide you with both Git and Bash in the Git Bash program.
Video Tutorial
Git
Git is a version control system that lets you track who made changes
to what when and has options for easily updating a shared or public
version of your code
on github.com. You will need a
supported
web browser.
You will need an account at github.com
for parts of the Git lesson. Basic GitHub accounts are free. We encourage
you to create a GitHub account if you don't have one already.
Please consider what personal information you'd like to reveal. For
example, you may want to review these
instructions
for keeping your email address private provided at GitHub.
Reclamation also has a GitLab instance. Since GitHub is more flexible and open, we will be using
it for the lesson. However, the functionality of Git will be exactly the same between the systems
with only the online interface changing.
When you're writing code, it's nice to have a text editor that is
optimized for writing code, with features like automatic
color-coding of key words. The default text editor on macOS and
Linux is usually set to Vim, which is not famous for being
intuitive. If you accidentally find yourself stuck in it, hit
the Esc key, followed by :+Q+!
(colon, lower-case 'q', exclamation mark), then hitting Return to
return to the shell.
nano is a basic editor and the default that instructors use in the workshop.
It is installed along with Git.
nano is a basic editor and the default that instructors use in the workshop.
See the Git installation video tutorial
for an example on how to open nano.
It should be pre-installed.
Video Tutorial
nano is a basic editor and the default that instructors use in the workshop.
It should be pre-installed.
Python
Python is a popular language for research computing, and great for general-purpose programming as well.
While one can install Python from many sources, please use the link to the installer below. This will provide
the conda package manager in addition to Python as well as conform to government licensing requirements.
We will teach Python using the Jupyter Notebook,
a programming environment that runs in a web browser (Jupyter Notebook will be installed by miniforge during our lesson). For this to work you will need a reasonably
up-to-date browser. The current versions of the Chrome, Safari and
Firefox browsers are all
supported
(some older browsers, including Internet Explorer version 9
and below, are not).
Install Python 3 by running the Miniforge Installer, using all of the defaults for installation except make sure to check Add Miniforge3 to my PATH environment variable.