Introduction to Shell & Git for (Data) Scientists

Overview

The Unix shell has been around longer than most of its users have been alive. It has survived so long because it’s a power tool that allows people to do complex things with just a few keystrokes. More importantly, it helps them combine existing programs in new ways and automate repetitive tasks so they aren’t typing the same things repeatedly. Using the shell is fundamental to using a wide range of other powerful tools and computing resources with clusters locally at KAUST (i.e., Ibex, Nesser, Shaheen, etc) or in the cloud (GCP, AWS, Azure, etc).

Version control is essential to managing projects or keeping track of document changes and evolutions. Git is a distributed version control system that helps developers track changes in their code over time. It allows multiple people to work on the same project simultaneously without overwriting each other's work. Version control, in general, is a system that records changes to a file or set of files so that you can recall specific versions later. This is crucial for collaboration, as it enables teams to manage and merge different contributions efficiently, maintain a history of changes, and revert to previous versions if needed. Git is widely used because of its speed, efficiency, and robust branching and merging capabilities.

This hands-on lesson is part of the Introduction to Data Science Workshop Series offered by KVL as part of our ongoing efforts to build core data science skills capacity both at KAUST and within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

If you have any questions, please contact us at help@vis.kaust.edu.sa.

Who Should Attend?

The course is aimed at graduate students and other researchers. You don't need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.

Agenda