Students are expected to have a computer they can install software on, and at least intermittent internet access. Access to e-mail is mandatory; all other communication forms are optional. No knowledge of computer science or engineering is expected.
Basic knowledge of boolean logic and arithmetic will be assumed; a review of boolean logic will be given in the first lesson.
Basic knowledge of physics and chemistry will be helpful, but is not required for successful participation in the course.
An introduction to the use of computers for the purpose of performing scientific research. This class has three themes: understand computers as scientific instruments, understand how science is performed with computers, and understand how to effectively communicate science done with computers. Starting from the physical and mathematical principles underlying the functioning of computers, we will survey the fields of computer science, hardware engineering, software design; we will gain hands-on experience with modern scientific and open software design techniques, as well as the tools which have been constructed to support international collaboration on and presentation of these systems.
Students will become familiar with the internal workings of computing systems, the ways in which computers are used to perform and communicate scientific research, and become effective communicators both of science and scientific results. Students will gain fluency in the use of computers to collaborate on scientific research projects.
After this course, students will be able to:
There is no particular book for this course; I will be writing lecture notes, and frequently these will come with links to additional reading material.
Grading will be based on practicals and written assignments. All tasks are graded with maximum score 2; the rubrick is:
All assignments are weighted equally; your score for the class is your average percentage over all homeworks and practicals.
Some weeks we will have a short lecture, and then a practical. The practical will involve using a computer to accomplish some tasks; you will afterwards write a report presenting your work, and submit this.
Reports should be written in full prose, in English (preferably) or Russian (carefully); they should be submitted in plain-text formats (LaTeX or Markdown). Results of programming can be submitted as separate files, but the use of these should be demonstrated in the report.
Note: I will only read the report. If the report asks me to run a script, then I will look for the script and run it as directed by the report. I will not go hunting for answers without prompting.
All weeks will have a short selection of reading assignments and a short selection of written questions to answer. Weeks without practicals will have more written questions than weeks without.
Answers will be shorter than reports, but should be written in the same way: plain-text, full prose, with any programming submitted as separate files and demonstrated in the answer text.
During exam weeks, there will be slightly larger written assignments. There will be no in-class exams; we will instead hold catch-up sessions to finish practicals, ask questions, or I might lecture on some additional topics.