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I'm totally on board with the idea that research software is a problem. My question is whether formal training (which the Sustainable Software Institute who cr
by swatow 12y ago
I'm totally on board with the idea that research software is a problem. My question is whether formal training (which the Sustainable Software Institute who created this study seem to advocate) is the best or most important solution.
Two other possibilities:
- Research code is uniquely difficult in ways that are different to other kinds of software. This is because the logic is often inherently complicated, since you are doing a complex calculation.
- Researchers are stuck using old fashioned languages and tools because they don't know better. Note that this doesn't necessarily they need training, only being pointed to the right places.
- collyw 12y agoI work with researchers. While I can't say whether they produced reliable results or not, they would regularly grind the network to a half by producing millions of small files. I did talks on how to use a database, and why it would stop these problems, but hardly any were interested.
- stinos 12y agoHard to tell if training by SSI or so is the solution, but any kind of training would probably do way more good than bad. Sure some research code is quite difficult and not all alike your typical we/business app, but that doesn't mean universal programming principles don't apply or wouldn't make for better code. I'd also argue that pointing to the right places, in a way that sticks, i.e. with proper explanation of why those are the right places, is training.