Week 1, Day 2: Tuesday, July 11
Synopsis
The second day of Week 1 starts with an introduction to regular expressions. From there, we build on the first day’s overview of the command line and expand our understanding of programs and files, introducing the use of variables and data pipelines.
Outcome goals
- Ability to interpret and produce regular expressions for simple match patterns
- Editing within the command line interface
- Data workflow in the shell
- Familiarity with conventions of your own operating system
Legend
- Presentation: by instructors
- Discussion: instructors and participants
- Talk lab: participants discuss or plan in small groups
- Code lab: participants code alone or in small groups
9:00–10:30: Regular expressions 1
What are regular expressions, and how can they improve our pattern-matching when dealing with an abundance of textual data?
| Time | Topic | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 15 min | Review of previous day | Discussion |
| 15 min | Why use regular expressions? | Presentation |
| 30 min | Simple patterns | Code lab |
| 30 min | Repetition | Presentation |
10:30–11:00: Coffee break
11:00–12:30: Command line 2
| Time | Topic | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 90 min | The Software Carpentry activities associated with the Command line 2 session are: 3. Working with Files and Directories 4. Pipes and Filters | Discussion |
12:30–2:00: Lunch
2:00–3:30: Programs and files 2
We have a basic grasp of directory navigation, but what don’t we know about $PATH? How does our environment affect our file processing? How can we use commands and variables to manipulate files more efficiently?
| Time | Topic | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 20 min | Variables and repeating things | Discussion |
| 30 min | The environment and $PATH |
Presentation |
| 30 min | The locale and its effects | Code lab |
| 10 min | Miscellaneous commands | Presentation |
3:30–4:00: Coffee break
4:00–5:30: Review
A recap of regular expressions, working in the command line, and file manipulation. What topics would benefit from additional clarifcation? What are you confused about? What would you like to know more about?
| Time | Topic | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 90 min | Review and troubleshooting | Discussion |
We’ll end each day with a request for feedback, based on a general version of the day’s outcome goals, and we’ll try to adapt on the fly to your responses. Please complete Week 1, Day 2 feedback (just copy and paste it into a plain-text document) and email your response to Kaylen at kaylensanders@pitt.edu with the subject heading “Week 1, Day 2 feedback”.