The Third Bit · Software Carpentry: Lessons Learned

<div class="center padtop">
  <h1>Software Carpentry:<br><a href="https://f1000research.com/articles/3-62/v2">Lessons Learned</a></h1>
  <p><img src="../img/codebender-logo.svg" alt="Third Bit logo" width="15%" /></p>
  <p>Greg Wilson</p>
  <p><a href="http://third-bit.com/talks/lessons-learned/">http://third-bit.com/talks/lessons-learned/</a></p>
  <p><img src="../img/cc-by.svg" width="20%" alt="CC-BY" /></p>
</div>

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## A Word of Caution

-  Years ago, I lost my temper while arguing with my brother, and said,
   "Jeff, I could teach you everything I know and you'd still be an idiot."

- Please keep that in mind as you listen to what follows

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## In the Beginning

- 1991: I wish scientists wrote better software

- 1998: I wish someone would teach scientists how to program

- 2011: I wish someone would teach them how to teach well

- 2017: I wish people knew how to organize because I think we're in trouble here…

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## The Long and Winding Road

<div class="center">
  <img src="../img/carpentries-logo.svg" alt="Carpentries logo" width="100%">
  <p>"We teach foundational coding and data science skills to researchers worldwide."</p>
</div>

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## The Long and Winding Road

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## Growth

<div align="center">
<table>
  <tr><th>Year</th><th>Workshops</th><th>Learners</th></tr>
  <tr><td align="right">2012</td><td align="right"> 38</td><td align="right">1378</td></tr>
  <tr><td align="right">2013</td><td align="right"> 93</td><td align="right">3212</td></tr>
  <tr><td align="right">2014</td><td align="right">139</td><td align="right">4742</td></tr>
  <tr><td align="right">2015</td><td align="right">274</td><td align="right">7755</td></tr>
  <tr><td align="right">2016</td><td align="right">345</td><td align="right">7133</td></tr>
  <tr><td align="right">2017</td><td align="right">338</td><td align="right">7248</td></tr>
  <tr><td align="right">2018</td><td align="right">436</td><td align="right">6329</td></tr>
</table>
</div>

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## Where We've Been

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## Along the Way

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## Lesson #1

- **Most scientists think of programming as a tax they have to pay to do science**

- Those who don't are *not* representative of the other 90%

<p class="center">See <a href="https://www.hanselman.com/blog/DarkMatterDevelopersTheUnseen99.aspx">Scott Hanselman: Dark Matter Developers</a></p>

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## Lesson #2

- **The curriculum is full**

- And even if it wasn't:

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## Lesson #3

- **The future (of teaching) is already here**

- It's just not evenly distributed

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## Examples

- <a href="http://tinyurl.com/guzdial-subgoals">Labelled subgoals improve performance</a>
- <a href="http://tinyurl.com/guzdial-peer-instruction">Peer instruction beats lecture</a>
- <a href="http://dl.acm.org/authorize.cfm?key=6833065">Media-first instruction increases retention</a>
- <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2960312">Grades in computing classes are <em>not</em> bimodal</a>

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## Lesson #4

- **Most people would rather fail than change**
- I.e., they would rather ignore evidence than change their working practices or business plan

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## Lesson #5

- **Programmers can rationalize _anything_**

- Git is as horrible as it is useful
- Stop blaming users for its shortcomings

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## Lesson #5

- **Programmers can rationalize _anything_**

- This is a good tool
- Please stop sneering at scientists for using it

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## Lesson #6

- **Correctness isn't compelling**
- Because the odds of being caught are vanishingly small
- But people care a *lot* about productivity

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-2"></div>
  <div class="col-4"><strong>Bait…</strong></div>
  <div class="col-4"><strong>…and Switch</strong></div>
  <div class="col-2"></div>
</div>

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-2"></div>
  <div class="col-4">
    Unix shell<br>
    Git / GitHub<br>
    Python or R<br>
    SQL<br>
    Make
  </div>
  <div class="col-4">
    automating tasks<br>
    tracking and sharing<br>
    modularization<br>
    structured data<br>
    reproducibility
  </div>
  <div class="col-2"></div>
</div>

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## Lesson #7

- **You're not alone.**
- Single-author curriculum = unmet needs
- Single source of funding = single point of failure
- So recruit the willing…
  - …train them…
  - …reward them…
  - …and cede power to them

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## Lesson #7

<div align="center">
<table>
  <caption>AP Student Numbers</caption>
  <tr><th>Subject</th><th align="right">2012</th><th align="right">2017</th></tr>
  <tr><td>Calculus</td><td align="right">361,000</td><td align="right">316,000</td></tr>
  <tr><td>Statistics</td><td align="right">153,000</td><td align="right">215,000</td></tr>
  <tr><td>Computer Science</td><td align="right">26,100</td><td align="right">44,000</td></tr>
</table>
</div>

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## Lesson #7

- I think we're finally ready

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## What Really Matters

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-4">
    <img src="../img/bpco.jpg" width="80%">
  </div>
  <div class="col-8">
    <p>There's no point being able to crunch data if there are questions you're not allowed to ask…</p>
    <p class="fragment">…in being able to reproduce results if nobody's listening…</p>
    <p class="fragment">…or in science being open if some people aren't welcome</p>
  </div>
</div>

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## Thank You

<div class="center">
  <p><img src="../img/gvwilson.png" width="40%"></p>
  <p><a href="http://third-bit.com">Greg Wilson</a></p>
  <p><a href="mailto:gvwilson@third-bit.com">gvwilson@third-bit.com</a></p>
  <p><a href="http://third-bit.com/talks/lessons-learned/">http://third-bit.com/talks/lessons-learned/</a></p>
</div>