Week Three lesson development

[drjwbaker]

Pinging @davanstrien. This will be where we host and work on the week three (Git) lesson.

[davanstrien]

Great. Will try and make a start on this soon.

[drjwbaker]

Great!

[drjwbaker]

@davanstrien: any progress on this? Might be useful to incorporate resources such as https://try.github.io/ and http://pcottle.github.io/learnGitBranching/ into reference materials.

[davanstrien]

A little. Have been busier then expected but I promise I will have something up very soon!

[drjwbaker]

No worries. In your own time.

On 13 August 2015 at 15:36, Daniel van Strien notifications@github.com wrote:

A little. Have been busier then expected but I promise I will have something up very soon!

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LibraryCarpentry/week-three-library-carpentry/issues/1#issuecomment-130700289 .

[drjwbaker]

@jezcope confirmed to assist on 23 November. @davanstrien: any updates?

[davanstrien]

Sorry! Buried under work/dissertation. I have scheduled time to work on this tonight and at the weekend so I should have a final draft ready by Sunday evening at the latest.

[drjwbaker]

@davanstrien: okay, perfectly understandable. Can we say you'll post Sunday regardless of how far you get, and then we can iterate from there? As ever, huge appreciation for your efforts on this.

[davanstrien]

Sounds good, will let you know where I've got to then.

[jezcope]

Cool, let me know if there's anything I can do.

[davanstrien]

I have made some updates. Hopefully hour one just needs some tidying and it is ready. I made some suggestions for hour two but haven't had time to do handouts / text yet. I can try and get some more done this week but won't have much time. My suggestion would be to focus on push/pulling between two people to start with. Pull requests next and potentially managing conflicts though I think getting to grips with the github pages adding some markdown to the site will probably keep people busy enough

[drjwbaker]

Great job @davanstrien: I'll aim to take a proper look this week!

Small thing, setup: we'll need some generic advise for both wk3 and wk2 https://github.com/LibraryCarpentry/week-two-library-carpentry re setup for Windows and OS X users. Windows is covered as for week two I get them to install https://git-for-windows.github.io/ (shell with Git built in!) I don't have a Mac though, so can someone advise on options for OS X please?

[davanstrien]

I can produce some instructions for mac. It was a while since I did it but I seem to remember it being fairly quick and painless.

On 19 October 2015 at 08:05, James Baker notifications@github.com wrote:

Great job @davanstrien https://github.com/davanstrien: I'll aim to take a proper look this week!

Small thing, setup: we'll need some generic advise for both wk3 and wk2 https://github.com/LibraryCarpentry/week-two-library-carpentry re setup for Windows and OS X users. Windows is covered as for week two I get them to install https://git-for-windows.github.io/ (shell with Git built in!) I don't have a Mac though, so can someone advise on options for OS X please?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LibraryCarpentry/week-three-library-carpentry/issues/1#issuecomment-149123251 .

[drjwbaker]

Cheers Daniel. Stick in somewhere in the week three repo and I'll copy it across to the week two repo for completeness.

[jezcope]

Software Carpentry have this page that you should be able to crib from.

[drjwbaker]

Great idea @jezcope. Do make sure they are cited appropriately http://software-carpentry.org/license.html (not least because Greg from SC is helping out along the way!)

[drjwbaker]

@davanstrien: this is great, super job. Some comments to consider:

• PhD Comics link is broken
• note that I don't cover touch week-two so be prepared to explain it
• open git_test.txt: note that open may not work for everyone depending on their setup... It certainly doesn't work for me on Ubuntu (I tend to do kate git_text.txt knowing that kate is my text editor, so consider your options here - perhaps just get them to open the text manually, not doing everything no the CL?)
• 'The -u tells Git to remember the parameters'. What 'parameters' do you mean here, be explicit.

On hour two and GitHub Pages, you'd need to produce a clear guide here so that folks can resolve conflicts without getting too frustrated. If this seems too much work, you could split this hour between activities that embed knowledge (eg getting them in groups to draw process diagrams of how Git works?) and you demoing the ease with which a GitHub Pages page could be setup and contributed to (with, say, folks committing to this page from one workstation in groups rather than all the attendees working on collaborative git stuff at the same time! - would certainly help with problem solving in the room).

[drjwbaker]

Daniel: @raquel-ucl https://github.com/UCL/rsd-engineeringcourse/tree/master/ch02git has kindly forwarded the Git lesson that @jamespjh uses at UCL. Might be worth taking a look for bits that are of interest.

[davanstrien]

thanks both. Should have some more done by the end of this weekend.

On 23 October 2015 at 14:30, James Baker notifications@github.com wrote:

Daniel: @raquel-ucl https://github.com/raquel-ucl https://github.com/UCL/rsd-engineeringcourse/tree/master/ch02git has kindly forwarded the Git lesson that @jamespjh https://github.com/jamespjh uses at UCL. Might be worth taking a look for bits that are of interest.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LibraryCarpentry/week-three-library-carpentry/issues/1#issuecomment-150572202 .

[raquelalegre]

@davanstrien No problem! Let me know if you need any clarification on the notes.

[davanstrien]

Apologies again for the delay - as usual finding it hard to find time for this. I will aim to work on this during the week and have a more final draft done by Friday.

@drjwbaker Would it be possible to quickly discuss how you want to carry out the actual session during week 1?

[drjwbaker]

@davanstrien To be clear what you mean, you'd like to discuss with me content for week three sometime next week?

[davanstrien]

Yes, that would be great. I will hopefully have the content ready to go by week 1 but would be good to discuss format etc.

[drjwbaker]

@davanstrien: do you have any free time next Monday (9 Nov) afternoon? I'll be in London before Library Carpentry kicks off at 1730, so happy to talk through the week 3 lesson then (just not too close to 1730!)

[davanstrien]

Monday afternoon is looking like it might be tricky. I think after the session I'll have a good sense of how they are running so probably won't have too many questions.

On 4 November 2015 at 13:33, James Baker notifications@github.com wrote:

@davanstrien https://github.com/davanstrien: do you have any free time next Monday (9 Nov) afternoon? I'll be in London before Library Carpentry kicks off at 1730, so happy to talk through the week 3 lesson then (just not too close to 1730!)

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LibraryCarpentry/week-three-library-carpentry/issues/1#issuecomment-153720051 .

[drjwbaker]

You sure? We can meet in the morning if you want? I won't have much time after as I'll need to shoot off home.

[jezcope]

I've been having a look at your working-branch branch. This is looking pretty good so far. Here are a handful of comments, mostly minor suggestions. Feel free to disagree with any or all of them!

• I would probably leave introducing github as late as possible (i.e. make a few more commits and look at history and diff first) — introducing git remote and git add disrupts a nice flow that you've got going by this point, and learners who are new to git are likely to assume you are introducing things in a logical order for a reason and thus that you have to add a remote and push to it before you can do git log or git diff
• I like the way you've used editing locally and direct on github as a way to simulate collaboration before doing it for real.
• Hours 2 & 3 are shaping up nicely, and setting up a github page looks like a good consolidation project, but bear in mind James's comments above and be prepared to be flexible and spend more time than you expect answering questions and clearing up confusion.
• Is it helpful to refer to 'document' so much in the introduction? People will bring their own definition of "document", which may cause confusion. Some people might limit to "something I intend to print" and exclude anything else, while others might include things that don't play well with version control, such as Word and PDF documents. Could maybe use "file"?
• Capitalisation: remember to use lowercase when you are talking about the command (otherwise attendees will be tempted to actually type Git and get an error)
• Use backticks (like this) to make code (e.g. commands and filenames) stand out inline in markdown.
• Things to consider including:
  • Reverting — i.e. a way to undo something you didn't mean to commit
  • Handling conflicts (this will happen in any collaborative project, so worth making sure people are ready for it when it does)
  • .gitignore
  • Demo a GUI — git usually works better when people understand the commandline interface, and there are no GUIs that work reliably enough across platforms for teaching, but it's nice for people to know that there are options.
  • More exploration of history, including git checkout
  • Branching

I hope that helps! If yuo have any particular thoughts on how you'd like me to work as a helper, let me know.

[davanstrien]

Yeah, think getting time off work at the moment will be tricky. I should have a better sense of how things work after this evening.

On 6 November 2015 at 09:45, James Baker notifications@github.com wrote:

You sure? We can meet in the morning if you want? I won't have much time after as I'll need to shoot off home.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LibraryCarpentry/week-three-library-carpentry/issues/1#issuecomment-154364531 .

[davanstrien]

thanks for the suggestions/corrections. I'll hopefully have time to incorporate some of them in the next couple of days.

Are you going to be attending the sessions tonight? Maybe we could have a quick chat about running the session then?

On 7 November 2015 at 17:02, Jez Cope notifications@github.com wrote:

I've been having a look at your working-branch branch. This is looking pretty good so far. Here are a handful of comments, mostly minor suggestions. Feel free to disagree with any or all of them!

• I would probably leave introducing github as late as possible (i.e. make a few more commits and look at history and diff first) — introducing git remote and git add disrupts a nice flow that you've got going by this point, and learners who are new to git are likely to assume you are introducing things in a logical order for a reason and thus that you have to add a remote and push to it before you can do git log or git diff
• I like the way you've used editing locally and direct on github as a way to simulate collaboration before doing it for real.
• Hours 2 & 3 are shaping up nicely, and setting up a github page looks like a good consolidation project, but bear in mind James's comments above https://github.com/LibraryCarpentry/week-three-library-carpentry/issues/1?_pjax=%23js-repo-pjax-container#issuecomment-149829611 and be prepared to be flexible and spend more time than you expect answering questions and clearing up confusion.
• Is it helpful to refer to 'document' so much in the introduction? People will bring their own definition of "document", which may cause confusion. Some people might limit to "something I intend to print" and exclude anything else, while others might include things that don't play well with version control, such as Word and PDF documents. Could maybe use "file"?
• Capitalisation: remember to use lowercase when you are talking about the command (otherwise attendees will be tempted to actually type Git and get an error)
• Use backticks (like this) to make code (e.g. commands and filenames) stand out inline in markdown.
• Things to consider including:
  • Reverting — i.e. a way to undo something you didn't mean to commit
  • Handling conflicts (this will happen in any collaborative project, so worth making sure people are ready for it when it does)
  • .gitignore
  • Demo a GUI — git usually works better when people understand the commandline interface, and there are no GUIs that work reliably enough across platforms for teaching, but it's nice for people to know that there are options.
  • More exploration of history, including git checkout
  • Branching

I hope that helps! If yuo have any particular thoughts on how you'd like me to work as a helper, let me know.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LibraryCarpentry/week-three-library-carpentry/issues/1#issuecomment-154723571 .

[jezcope]

No, I'm based in Leeds/Sheffield so won't be able to make it down to London until week 3 itself. I can do online chat or video though (irc/Hangouts/Skype) if that works for you?

[davanstrien]

That would be great @jezcope. Quick Skype chat would probably be useful. Don't think we'd need long but might be quicker than email. Sorry to do doodle poll but maybe easier http://doodle.com/created?pollId=hzpdk82f49ycw2hi&adminKey=ptta96vh If none of those dates work I'm happy to outline my suggestions in an email and go from there.

[jezcope]

Sorry, no excuses — I should have got to this sooner. I could probably fit in a chat this evening or tomorrow evening, lunchtime today or Friday morning. Do any of those suit you?

[drjwbaker]

Both - can I add that if you need anything printed by last opportunity to do this is Friday, so I'll need it no later than tomorrow.

[davanstrien]

My turn to apologise. Last week was very hectic... I will be aiming to get to City about an hour before the session. If you were around we could have a quick chat about the session then? I think the main thing we will have to keep an eye on is people running into difficulties and potentially helping people trouble shoot.

[jezcope]

No worries — it's definitely that time of year! My train gets into Kings Cross at half 4 and I'll aim to be at City ASAP after that, probably about 5. Sound ok?

[raquelalegre]

Hey there. I'll try and be there around 4:30 and I'm happy to discuss preparation. We had software carpentry at UCL ten days ago and it's still fresh in my memory :)

@davanstrien @jezcope where are you meeting?

[davanstrien]

I will probably head straight to the meeting room so I can check projectors etc. Do you know your way around City? I can meet at the entrance at a specified time otherwise.

[raquelalegre]

I've never been there before, I'll try to find it otherwise can I phone you? I'm on 07445492624.

[davanstrien]

Library-carpentry-git.github.io

[davanstrien]

https://github.com/Library-carpentry-git/Library-carpentry-git.github.io

[raquelalegre]

This is the command to reload the screen and show the contents of the folder and demystify git's magic:

while :
do 
 clear
 tree -a
 sleep 1
done

[davanstrien]

@drjwbaker @raquel-ucl @jezcope Thanks for all your help yesterday. Was much appreciated.

[ptallentire]

Also thanks @davanstrien - it was a really good session.