We can provide a variety of training and support services, from one-on-one tuition to week-long courses for dozens of people. Our focus is on teaching programming for the purposes of scientific research, with a particular emphasis on solar phsyics and astronomy. However, we are open to working with clients from other disciplines.

Some of our services are descibed below. If you have any questions about these or would like to discuss arranging something that isn't listed, feel free to get in touch.

Workshops

We offer a variety of workshops teaching Python, with three broad approaches:

  • Introduction to programming (2 days): for scientists with no prior programming experience. Covers version control with Git, basic bash and the fundamentals of programming in Python for scientific purposes.
  • Extended workshop (5 days): a longer workshop aimed at those without programming experience. The first two days cover the same material as the Introduction to programming workshop. On the third we discuss principles of open-source software and the final two days go into more detail on programming for solar physics and astronomy, particularly with SunPy and Astropy.
  • Python for programmers (2 days): a condensed version of the Extended workshop. Covers Git, Python syntax, SunPy and Astropy. This workshop assumes prior experience with another programming language and some familiarity with bash.

These workshops are flexible and we will work with you to provide a custom-built curriculum suitable for your purposes. All the standard lessons we use for the workshops are available in a GitHub repository, and you can also browse our list of previous workshops.

All workshops are interactive and are based on the style of the Software Carpentry workshops. Participants are expected to bring their own laptops and work through coding examples as they are demonstrated throughout the workshop. This approach allows attendees to immediately apply what they are learning and to get feedback quickly if problems occur.

If you would like us to provide one of these workshops for you, contact us at training@aperiosoftware.com.