So you're a scientist. You do a bit of coding, produce some plots, fit some curves, run some sims etc. Your scripts evolve and it's a little hard to keep track of which scripts you used to plot which raw data etc. Plus, how do you connect reference the exact script you used in your wet-lab book? Well fear no longer.
Git is going to work like your dry-lab book, you'll be able to keep track of everything you've ever done and it's going to be wonderful.
It can be all a bit overwhelming to begin with, especially if you're not used to working on a command line. But don't worry, trust me, there's a few simple best practices that we can perform to make it so much easier!
Once you've got the hang of it (not difficult) you can use git for literally anything or any file type:
- Manuscripts
- PDFs
- Code in any language
- Presentation slides
- Poetry
For this tutorial series, we're going to be managing projects in Python as a placeholder as I believe this probably applies most broadly across the sciences. BUT! If your hearts desire, feel free to work with your own scripts what ever language you fancy.
Git is pretty damn cool!
The aim of this tutorial series is not to turn you into a Git Jedi.
Rather it is to provide a framework, methodology and series of good habits that will give you a good-enough understanding change your git experience from:
One of I tried it and it was a bit complicated, I wasn't quite sure what I had done and I kinda just stopped using it.
To *To be honest, I'm not sure how I could work without it.. *
And provide you with the foundation to go off and learn more yourself if you wish.
I hope you find it useful and please please please get in touch if:
- You think something could be worded, explained better, is ambigious.
- I have missed something out.
- You have any constructive feedback at all.
- You found them helpful! ✨🌱
Alex Perkins 1st of April 2022 a.j.p.perkins@sms.ed.ac.uk
So without further ado, let's go!