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Software Carpentry is not aimed at computer scientists

Posted by neilfws on 31 Mar 2014 at 20:37 GMT

The article states: "While many guides to software development exist, they are often aimed at computer scientists [6]" and cites in reference [6] the Software Carpentry website.

Software Carpentry is not aimed at computer scientists; it aims to teach computer science best practice to researchers who do not have formal computer science training. Their FAQ [1] states that:

- Software Carpentry is a volunteer organization whose goal is to make scientists more productive, and their work more reliable, by teaching them basic computing skills
- computing is now an integral part of every aspect of science, but most scientists are never taught how to build, use, validate, and share software well

[1] http://software-carpentry...

No competing interests declared.

RE: Software Carpentry is not aimed at computer scientists

JamesOsborne replied to neilfws on 02 Apr 2014 at 17:23 GMT

The authors fully agree that Software Carpentry is not aimed at computer scientists.

The sentence in question is badly phrased and could lead to confusion; we intended to show our support for Software Carpentry's position (so "While many guides to software development exist, they are often aimed at computer
scientists", and that this is a problem acknowledged by [6]).

In fact at least one of the authors is a Software Carpentry instructor, we whole heatedly support the initiative, and reference it in the supplementary material as an excellent training resource.

Competing interests declared: I am an author of the paper.