Basics of Computing Environments for Scientists

Abstract

Introduce IT services at D-PHYS and offer modules covering IT-related topics for scientists.

Objective

The "IT at D-PHYS" introduction provides a good understanding of how IT works at D-PHYS and presents an overview of the IT services and their providers. It is recommended for everyone joining the department. The "IT and Information Security" crash course will address the most common threats you'll encounter when using the internet and teach you how to fend them off. The remainder is structured into individual modules which can be attended separately. They give practical insights into everyday research-related IT challenges. The "Linux Basics" modules offer an introduction to the Linux landscape and show how to work on the shell by using command line tools. The first part provides a basic understanding of Linux systems and their components. It introduces commands essential to working with local and remote machines. The second part focuses on more advanced tools and workflows and provides guidelines to scripting, automation and customization. The "Python Ecosystem" modules present various aspects on the ecosystem around Python, without covering the programming language itself. The first part focuses on getting ready to run code. It discusses the management of Python interpreters, packages and virtual environments. The second part presents tools for writing code. From development environments (IDE, Jupyter), over code formatters and linters, to skimming selected concepts (string formatting, regular expressions). The "System Aspects module" deals with the hardware-related side of scientific computing. To get the best performance out of your scientific code, you have to be aware of the underlying hardware and adapt to it. Use the dedicated web page https://www.lehrbetrieb.ethz.ch/laborpraktika to register. Enrolled students are eligible for an attestation of attendance after visiting at least 3 out of the 5 modules. Refer to https://compenv.phys.ethz.ch for the detailed contents.

Content

Introduction: IT at D-PHYS (IT service providers and IT services at D-PHYS) IT and Information Security Modules: Linux Basics I (system components, basic shell usage) Linux Basics II (advanced tools, scripting) Python Ecosystem I (interpreters, packages, virtual environments) Python Ecosystem II (development environments, formatter and linter, string formatting, regexp) System Aspects (how the hardware affects your scientific code and vice versa)

Resources