UCL for Code in Research

Peter Schmidt
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The companion podcast for courses on programming from the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College of London, UK. 

  1. DEC 11

    9/9 Research Software Engineering with Python (COMP233) - Performance

    In this last episode of this course, I talk to Itamar Turner-Trauring who created the website PythonSpeed and spent a considerable time on finding ways to make Python code faster and more efficient. Python and its ecosystem also have great tools how you can measure performance. Links: https://pythonspeed.com a set of articles and recommendations on how to improve your performancehttps://blog.sentry.io/python-performance-testing-a-comprehensive-guide/ a general blog post on performance testinghttps://uwpce-pythoncert.github.io/SystemDevelopment/profiling.html https://uwpce-pythoncert.github.io/SystemDevelopment/index.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_performancehttps://python-102.readthedocs.io/en/latest/performance.htmlhttps://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.htmlhttps://www.green-algorithms.orghttps://doi.org/10.1145/356635.356640 Donald Knuth's paper on over optimisationhttps://wiki.python.org/moin/TimeComplexityhttps://blog.jetbrains.com/dataspell/2023/08/polars-vs-pandas-what-s-the-difference/ comparing Polars with PandaProfiling tools https://pyinstrument.readthedocs.io/en/latest/https://docs.python.org/3/library/profile.htmlhttps://docs.python.org/3/library/time.html the time function in Pythonhttps://docs.python.org/3/library/timeit.html another function to measure time in Pythonhttps://jiffyclub.github.io/snakeviz/ a graphic profile viewerhttps://bloomberg.github.io/memray/ flexible memory profilerhttps://github.com/benfred/py-spyhttps://www.wrighters.io/profiling-python-code-with-py-spy/https://github.com/P403n1x87/austin-python The Python wrapper for the Austin profiler Don't be shy - say Hi This podcast is brought to you by the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College London, UK. Producer and Host: Peter Schmidt

    23 min

  2. DEC 4

    8/9 Research Software Engineering with Python (COMP233) - Design and Patterns

    In this episode I talk to Jeremiah Miller - a software engineer - and Max Albert - a research software engineer in the research software group at the University of Southampton about refactoring and design patterns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patternshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_codehttps://www.distributed-systems.net/index.php/books/ds4/ book by A Tanenbaumhttps://refactoring.com The Refactoring book by Martin Fowlerhttps://martinfowler.com/architecture/https://martinfowler.com/eaaDev/https://martinfowler.comhttps://www.patternlanguage.com the original book by Christopher Alexander on design patterns in architecture - for towns, cities etc. This book inspired software engineers to define a set of design patterns on how to structure codehttps://refactoring.guru/design-patterns Max recommended Sandi and her tips and recommendations on codinghttps://sandimetz.com/99bottles the idea of making things as identical as possible to sniff out design breaks or changeshttps://refactoring.guru/design-patterns another website on design patterns and refactoringSome books: Design Patterns - Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides, Addison-Wesley, 1995, ISBN 0-201-63361-2Enterprise Integration Patterns Gregor Hohpe, Bobby Woole, Addison-Wesley, 2004, ISBN 0-321-20068-3Don't be shy - say Hi This podcast is brought to you by the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College London, UK. Producer and Host: Peter Schmidt

    28 min

  3. NOV 27

    7/9 Research Software Engineering with Python (COMP233) - Project Management

    In this episode I talk to Monika Byrne Svata, Agile Delivery Manager at UCL about project management and in particular Scrum and Kanban. GitHub has features, like Issues and Projects that can help you stay on top of your software projects. Links http://www.linkedin.com/in/monikabyrnesvata Monika's LinkedIn profilehttps://docs.github.com/en/issues/planning-and-tracking-with-projects/learning-about-projects/about-projects GitHub projects documentationhttps://www.atlassian.com/software/jira JIRAhttps://trello.com/home Trellohttps://agilemanifesto.org Agile Manifestohttps://www.scrum.org/resources/what-scrum-module Scrum, a popular agile methodologyhttps://www.agile42.com/en/blog/scrum-history Scrum historyhttps://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanban Kanban methodologyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban a bit of background to Kanbanhttps://beza1e1.tuxen.de/waterfall.html Waterfall methodshttps://digital.ai/resource-center/analyst-reports/state-of-agile-report/ annual report on all things agileDon't be shy - say Hi This podcast is brought to you by the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College London, UK. Producer and Host: Peter Schmidt

    29 min

  4. NOV 13

    6/9 Research Software Engineering with Python (COMP233) - Documentation

    Documentating software is part of the life of software engineers. But what kind of documentation do we need? In this episode I take you through three levels of documentation: the basic README and LICENSE files everyone should have, how to be good at writing git commit messages and using tools to turn your source code comments into browsable documentation. Links https://www.sphinx-doc.org/https://pdoc.dev/docs/pdoc.htmlhttps://docs.python.org/3/library/pydoc.htmlhttps://wiki.python.org/moin/DocumentationToolshttps://peps.python.org/pep-0287/ reStructuredText Docstring Formathttps://github.com/matiassingers/awesome-readme some README exampleshttps://dev.to/documatic/awesome-readme-examples-for-writing-better-readmes-3eh3https://www.gitkraken.com/learn/git/best-practices/git-commit-message GIT commit messaginghttps://www.warp.dev/terminus/git-commit-history Git Commit historyDon't be shy - say Hi This podcast is brought to you by the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College London, UK. Producer and Host: Peter Schmidt

    17 min

  5. OCT 30

    5/9 Research Software Engineering with Python (COMP233) - Testing with Python

    Testing your software is part of development. In this episode I talk about different types of testing, automated tests, legacy code etc. My guest is Stef Piatek from UCL who tells us how he approaches testing in his daily work. Links https://docs.python.org/3/library/unittest.htmlhttps://docs.pytest.org/https://docs.pytest.org/en/7.1.x/how-to/monkeypatch.html PyTest Monkeypatchhttps://agiledata.org/essays/tdd.html test driven development TDDhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_programminghttps://joss.readthedocs.io/en/latest/review_criteria.html criteria for open source software reviews, which includes a section on testinghttps://www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-practical-guide-to-start-opensource-contributions/https://docs.github.com/en/actions GitHub Actionshttps://martinfowler.com Martin Fowler's great web site. Also look out for his book:Working Effectively With Legacy Code - Michael Feathers, 2004, ISBN: 8601400968741Don't be shy - say Hi This podcast is brought to you by the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College London, UK. Producer and Host: Peter Schmidt

    25 min

  6. OCT 22

    4/9 Research Software Engineering with Python (COMP233) - Data Formats

    In this episode I'll be discussing data formats such as CSV, JSON and YAML. My guest is Nick Radcliffe from Stochastic Solutions and the Uni. Edinburgh. Nick's expertise is in data science and he has a lot to share about data, data formats and how to use them. Links https://www.linkedin.com/in/njradcliffe/ Nick's LinkedIn profilehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values CSV formatshttps://www.json.org/json-en.html JSONhttps://json-ld.org JSON for linked datahttps://json-schema.org JSON schemahttps://yaml.org YAMLhttps://parquet.apache.org Parquet by Apachehttps://hdfgroup.github.io/hdf5/ HDF5Libraries https://numpy.orghttps://scipy.orghttps://scikit-learn.org/stable/http://www.tdda.info test driven data analysisDon't be shy - say Hi This podcast is brought to you by the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College London, UK. Producer and Host: Peter Schmidt

    25 min

  7. OCT 16

    3/9 Research Software Engineering with Python (Comp233) - Introduction to Python

    Python is one of the most widely used programming languages in research and science. How did it come to that. And what makes Python special? It's something I discuss with my guest in this episode, Robin Wilson, who also takes us through some of the less favourable or more complex aspects of the language. Links http://www.rtwilson.com Robert Wilsonhttps://blog.rtwilson.com Robert's blog postshttps://www.python.orghttps://anaconda.org Anaconda Python distributionhttps://jupyter.org all things Jupyterhttps://ipython.org iPythonhttps://inference-review.com/article/the-origins-of-pythonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literate_programmingPython libraries for science https://numpy.org https://scipy.org https://pandas.pydata.orghttps://scikit-learn.org/stable/Don't be shy - say Hi This podcast is brought to you by the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College London, UK. Producer and Host: Peter Schmidt

    25 min

  8. OCT 8

    2/9 Research Software Engineering with Python (COMP233) - Git Part 2

    In this episode we look into more essential Git commands, such as branching and merging. Branching and merging are key concepts that help you develop code or even text documents in a team. They help you maintain different versions of files and work on them independently. Another element of collaborative working is provided by GitHub: the pull request. Pull request are a great way to do code reviews, which avoids introducing bugs and also learn from each other. In my conversations Sam and Eirini talk about these key features and their experiences with it. Links: https://git-scm.com/ Git againhttps://martinfowler.com/articles/branching-patterns.html Martin Fowler's blog post on branching patternshttps://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/about-pull-requests explains the mechanics of pull requests in more detailhttps://github-pages.ucl.ac.uk/rsd-engineeringcourse/ Lecture notesDon't be shy - say Hi This podcast is brought to you by the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College London, UK. Producer and Host: Peter Schmidt

    26 min
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About

The companion podcast for courses on programming from the Advanced Research Computing Centre of the University College of London, UK. 

Information

  • Creator
    Peter Schmidt
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 UCL for Code in Research
  • Show Website
    UCL for Code in Research