The Computational Salon: Elegant Scientific Programming for Fun and Profit

Aut prodesse volunt aut delectare poetae / aut simul et iucunda et idonea dicere vitae (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Ars Poetica)

0. Introduction
1. Elegant programming, part 1: introduction to Python
   • Hello Py – deconstructing helloworld.c vs. Python's expressiveness
   • Py three ways – learning important Python constructs while computing pi
2. Elegant performance, part 1: choosing and using software packages
   • Choosing and installing the best third-party packages: pip, virtualenv, and all that
   • Ten favorite packages from the Python standard library and from third parties (including XML parsing)
   • Introduction to numpy – building stellar models à la Hachisu
3. Elegant collaboration, part 1: programming the web
   • A script to request bibtex entries from ADS
   • [Making your website interactive with CGI scripts]
4. Elegant programming, part 2: object-oriented programming
   • Introduction to OOP with Wator
5. Elegant performance, part 2: wrapping legacy and performance-sensitive code
   • Wrapping legacy C code
   • More solutions for high-performance Python programming
6. Elegant collaboration, part 2: version control and scientific workflows
   • Version control with SVN
   • Introduction to workflows and the scientific "make" (bein, ruffus, fabric)
7. Elegant programming, part 3: building your own scientific package with higher Python magic
   • A general framework for Markov Chain Monte Carlo integration
   • Structuring and distributing a Python software package
8. Elegant performance, part 3: parallel programming
9. Elegant collaboration, part 3: beautiful documentation, beautiful plots
10. Appendix. Installation and practical notes.