The First Bootcamp of 2012

We just wrapped up the first bootcamp of 2012 at the Space Telescope Science Institute. 14 scientists with a wide variety of computational backgrounds spent two days learning about testing, version control, program structure, the basics of Python, and the psychology of learning and programming. We're following up with 6 weeks of online material, partly because that's what fits everyone's schedules, and partly to see whether a blended approach works better than either strategy on its own.

And on a completely different topic, this diagram from the Discover magazine web site sums up every scientist-vs-journalist debate ever: