Summer 2025 Workshops
The URCF summer 2025 workshop series ran from June 23rd to July 10th. They were designed to teach the fundamentals of research computing: the Unix shell, programming basics, and how to access and use Picotte.
You can find the info and materials for these workshops below.
For information on upcoming workshops, see our home page.
Introduction to the Unix shell♯
-
What you'll learn: The basics of interacting with computers using the Unix shell (a.k.a. the command line), which is a foundational skill for all other technical computing. You'll learn how to manipulate data, automate repetitive tasks, chain programs together to make more powerful workflows, and the basics of shell scripting.
-
Required background: None, this workshop assumes you're completely new to research computing.
Introduction to research computing on Picotte♯
-
What you'll learn: How to use Picotte, Drexel's high performance computing cluster, to tackle more substantial computational tasks that would be infeasible on a laptop or desktop. You'll learn how to connect to Picotte, how to move data to and from the cluster, and how to submit and scale up jobs.
-
Required background: Basic Unix shell skills, from attending the previous workshop or otherwise
Introduction to Python programming, Part 1♯
-
What you'll learn: The basics of programming using Python, a popular language for research. We'll cover Python fundamentals like variables, types, and loops, as well as a few practical examples like data visualization.
-
Required background: None, this workshop assumes you're completely new to research computing.
Introduction to Python programming, Part 2♯
-
What you'll learn: This workshop picks up where Part 1 left off. We'll cover conditionals, functions, error handling, debugging, and writing Python scripts you can run on the command line.
-
Required background: Basic Python skills, from attending the previous workshop or otherwise