Programming for Social Science: Core Skills

Course Handbook

What’s this module about?

This is a course for social and ecological scientists (and anyone else) who fancy learning how to program. It teaches basic Python (see: Why Python) along with useful elements of core programming culture.

Why do it?

The short answer:

"The spread of computers and the Internet will put jobs in two categories: people who tell computers what to do, and people who are told by computers what to do." Marc Andreessen

The long answer:

The vast majority of Geographical Information specialists are good at using 'out of the box' software such as GIS to complete analyses, but they are limited to that. This module will take you to the next level – the level at which you're no longer just a user of other people's software, but can develop bespoke tools for complex analyses that standard software would not cope with. The course will centre on learning the Python programming language. Python is a 'high level' language that is especially useful for data analysis. Learning Python not only gives you a major computing language, but can put you in an excellent position for going on to other languages and understanding the broader issues of programming. As such it is often the language of choice for both environmental and business consultancies, as well as the research sector. The course is suitable for those with no experience of programming, or those with experience of other languages such as VBA.

How should I spend my time?

Basically there's 35 hours of lecture and practical materials, plus a follow-up session of 3 hours, leaving you 112 hours of private study in which to finish off practicals, revisit the lecture materials, read around the subject, and finish the assessments.

How is this module being assessed?

The assessments are a) an online portfolio of work formed in part by the practical materials, and b) a major computing project. See the assessments page for details, deadlines, etc.

Detailed comments on plagiarism and collusion can be found on our plagiarism and collusion page. Make sure you read them.

Syllabus

The first half of the course will take you through the core language. The second half looks at using this, along with code supplied by other people, to get specific jobs done. In addition, we'll cover some key programming concepts as we go through the course. For a full overview, see the outline and key concepts page.