Writing Correct and Readable Code
Cut down on frustrating code.
Original draft by
A raven wearing green sunglasses.
Meeting
Class
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1-hour interactive presentation. 3 lessons introduce the often overlooked value of highly readable code and teach participants the principles that ensure readability, as well as how to organize computational research projects beyond the code itself. Spice up a lab meeting, teach a class, or run a skill-building session for your team.
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3-hour interactive presentation. 8 lessons include and continue the meeting version to write and improve research code. Participants learn how and why they should organize their code's functions, directories, and comments, learn the basics of robust code testing, and learn about some of the tools and resources that may supercharge the rigor of their computational work going forward. Teach one week of class, or run an intensive workshop.
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Asynchronous, online reference resource. 8 chapters with built-in activities expand upon content in the class version to support learners with expanded examples and mindful messaging around the use of LLMs in programming. Learn solo, assign it as coursework, or use it as a reference.
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Unit Overview

What you will do

It has become increasingly common for neuroscientists to adopt more computational workflows, picking up computing skills here and there and teaching themselves how to code using online tutorials. However, the lack of a formal education in computer science and python programming means that there are certain gaps in their knowledge and practice that can lead to frustrations and poor reproducibility. In this unit, we aim to fill in those gaps and teach novice scientific programmers how to write research code that is less buggy, easier to read, and produces more reliable results.

Course highlights