Which Sustainable Software Practices Do Scientists Find Most Useful?
This research addresses the practical needs of scientists in adopting software skills, though it is incremental as it focuses on survey and interview data from specific workshops.
The study investigated which sustainable software practices scientists find most useful after attending workshops, finding that participants reported increased familiarity and valued learning Python over Unix shell, along with pointers to resources and background material.
We studied scientists who attended two-day workshops on basic software skills to determine which tools and practices they found most useful. Our pre- and post-workshop surveys showed increases in self-reported familiarity, while our interviews showed that participants found learning Python more useful than learning the Unix shell, that they found pointers to further resources very valuable, and that background material---the "why" behind the skills---was also very valuable.