RSE Induction for OOOMinders


Prepared for PDRAs and PhDs of the Out of Our Minds Project @The University of Sheffield, October 2017.

Welcome on board!

This RSE induction is aimed to introduce the attendees to software development best practices as well as presenting a friendly introduction to GitHub -a free and open source platform that can help you build projects that are collaborative, well documented, and version-controlled. In this workshop we will introduce you to the Github ecosystem and help you get you comfortable navigating basic Github workflows. We will make sure that you leave the workshop aware of the best practices for developing projects on Github (e.g. writing a good “readme” or posting and labeling issues) and an understanding of how Github can help make your projects more readable and accessible.

mozwow

Slides

The link(s) to the presentation(s) can be found below.

  1. Is your research software correct?
  2. What, Why, and Welcome to Github - In this short presentation, we'll get a brief intro to what GitHub is and some handy terms which well help get you speaking the language of Git/Github. We also show some common use cases for how and why GitHub might make working on and collaborating on projects more manageable.

    3. Exercises

    Sessions

    The links to the excercises can be found below.

    1. My First Repo: Make your own repository on GitHub and experiment with issues, branches, commit messages and pull requests.
    2. https://try.github.io : Git from the command line: interactive git tutorial
    3. Working locally : Add a repository from your own computer and keep it synced with the version online at GitHub (live session)

    Help

    1. Getting Help

      Here we'll hopefully answer questions you might have.

      • How can I ask questions?

        Please feel free to ask any of the facilitators any questions you have - we're here to help!

        You should also try asking your neighbours as you're working through the exercises. Figuring out how to do this in pairs is much easier than struggling alone!

        We have a living Etherpad where we will be collecting any questions from participants and answering either on a rolling basis.
        Hop on the pad if you've got questions, comments, want to make notes as we're going along, or want to answer any of the questions.

        How can I get help with my software?

        Your main RSE for this project is Tania Allard, you can contact her at t.allard@sheffield.ac.uk. She shall be able to help you with your software problems or to point you to the right person.

        What if I need help on the fly when developing software?

        There are some awesome community resources out there for people working on software. Stack Overflow is a great place to start with, and surely you will find loads of answers there.

    2. Centralised RSE support and resources for OOOMinds

      We have set a GitHub organisation for the project. There, we will all share the software develop (all of it) and collaborate with others.

      If you still have not been granted access to this material please let your RSE know.

    3. Additional resources

      Here we'll list some persistent resources that you might use throughout the workshop and on your own time.