My usual response to the question of "what programming language should I learn?" is:
* Python or R, because those are the two languages being used by many computational scientists, being actively developed, and with rich existing ecosystems of libraries and tutorials; * choose between them based on your local friendly help - if you have a lot of R folk down the hall, learn R, and vice versa; * once you know one, you can pick up another language much more easily than you might believe; cheers, --titus On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 04:06:12PM -0700, Maria McKinley wrote: > There is also the point of best for what job? Best programming language > discussions are mostly just flame wars, and I like to address them by > saying there is no best programming language; it depends on the knowledge > of the person doing the coding, what they are trying to accomplish, and > possibly the environment/what all is available on the particular machine > that the code will run on. > > cheers, > Maria > > On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 3:27 PM, Giuseppe Profiti < > profgiuseppe+...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Related, even if not properly in topic. > > While attending the SWC train the trainers course in September, I took > > a note about the "just" and how to keep an I-can-do-it attitude in the > > learners. > > Then, in January, I had the chance to try to be more aware of that > > while teaching Python in a Master's degree course (70-80% of students > > .usually have a background in biology or biotech). > > > > Of course that was a different setting: students believe having more > > time to grasp the material with respect to a short workshop, they may > > be less prone to give up during class, but they could do it anyways or > > maybe give up later when you are not there to answer questions. > > > > Anyways, "what is the best programming language?" is something that > > they asked. I have my programming language of choice, but the > > demotivation section in SWC guidelines helped in devising a better > > answer than "I like that, but you choose whatever you want". > > Instead, I told them that the best programming language is the one > > they feel more comfortable with. That "if", "for" and functions are in > > almost every programming language and that after getting it in python > > they could move to something else. And that if someone in their future > > place of work would tell them "You should use X because is better!", > > they may give it a try, see if they like it and maybe toss it in the > > trash bin if not. > > > > Maybe I was wrong or there may be a better phrased answer. In that > > case, a feedback from you would be more than welcome. > > > > To be in topic: instead of thinking about it as "I must not do that", > > those guidelines could also be used as "how can I convey that > > information in a better and less threatening way?". > > > > Best, > > Giuseppe > > > > > > > > 2016-03-24 22:44 GMT+01:00 Greg Wilson <gvwil...@software-carpentry.org>: > > > One approach is to pre-empt it - I make a point of saying in my intro > > that > > > this stuff is genuinely hard, that I shouldn't imply otherwise by saying > > > "just" (or equivalent), and inviting people to keep score. We can then > > > compare everyone's scores at the first coffee break, and since they're > > never > > > the same, we can then have an interesting discussion about real-world > > data > > > :-) > > > Cheers, > > > Greg > > > > > > > > > On 2016-03-24 5:41 PM, Adam Obeng wrote: > > >> > > >> Does any one have a tip for how to recover from accidentally doing these > > >> things? I've tried to explain why I'm apologising for saying "just", but > > >> that *just* seems to make it worse. > > >> > > >> Cheers, > > >> > > >> Adam > > >> > > >> On Thu, Mar 24, 2016, at 05:30 PM, Steven Haddock wrote: > > >>> > > >>> Yes, I think that is the one. The J-word!! > > >>> Thanks Lex. > > >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > >>>> On Mar 24, 2016, at 14:22 , Lex Nederbragt <lex.nederbr...@ibv.uio.no > > > > > >>>> wrote: > > >>>> > > >>>> Perhaps this helps? Look for "Things You Shouldn't Do in a Workshop" > > on > > >>>> http://swcarpentry.github.io/instructor-training/09-motivation.html > > >>>> > > >>>> Lex > > >>>> > > >>>>> On 24 Mar 2016, at 22:02, Steven Haddock <hadd...@mbari.org> wrote: > > >>>>> > > >>>>> TL;dr Can someone point me to the post about teaching guidelines? > > >>>>> > > >>>>> A little while ago Greg or somebody posted a set of examples of > > things > > >>>>> to avoid saying (???You can simply??????, etc). > > >>>>> > > >>>>> A friend of mine (really!) is teaching a class and she realized she > > >>>>> should avoid saying ???You have probably all done X?????? so I was > > >>>>> going > > to send > > >>>>> her that post, but I can???t find it. > > >>>>> > > >>>>> Thanks, > > >>>>> Steve > > >>>>> > > >>>>> > > >>>>> _______________________________________________ > > >>>>> Discuss mailing list > > >>>>> Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org > > >>>>> > > >>>>> > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > > >>> > > >>> > > >>> _______________________________________________ > > >>> Discuss mailing list > > >>> Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org > > >>> > > >>> > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > > >> > > >> _______________________________________________ > > >> Discuss mailing list > > >> Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org > > >> > > >> > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > > > > > > > > > -- > > > Dr Greg Wilson > > > Director of Instructor Training > > > Software Carpentry Foundation > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Discuss mailing list > > > Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org > > > > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org > > > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org -- C. Titus Brown, ctbr...@ucdavis.edu _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org
