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Presenter Notes

These are notes from when the tutorial is presented. I always come away from a presentation with ideas for how to improve things next time, but I almost never have the time to sit down and make those improvements when everything is fresh in my mind. So, I jot down notes here.

2022-10-17: Center for Astrophysics

  • 90 minute tutorial, with a relatively slow start as people filtered in; consistent with previous experience, we didn't get much past Part 1. Two hours is better.
  • Biggest note for next time: gotta handle the prerequisites better. Need to reach out to attendees in advance and ask them to confirm that they have Git and Python installed. Should figure out a recommended approach for Windows — if you install Git Bash and then standard Python, they can't talk to each other. Conda is probably the way to go. This could/should also help with turnout.
  • Second-biggest: should update the handout to use Tectonic’s document model, and see below about scripting font downloads! I used slightly different font files this time and had to futz with spacing. Source Code Pro is in the Tectonic 2022.0 bundle now. May need to undo those changes.
  • Addressed the magic commit ID for the print-my-name branch as logged last time. I think I didn't reference origin/master since we haven't defined remotes, etc. at that stage of the tutorial. Alternative approach is to have the person create the branch early in the tutorial. Chief downside, fully expected, is that if they forget to do so, they run into problems in Part 2. But if that happens it's easy for a lab assistant to fix.
  • Some confusion mixing window scrolling plus less. I added some commentary in the less cheat sheet, but should probably mention it verbally and in the handout.
  • Despite my continued efforts, someone always types in the placeholder curly braces!!! One day I'll figure out how to handle this. Should have a huge slide dedicated to it in the intro.
  • Trouble with systems where python3 is available but not unversioned python. I've updated the demo to use the former.
  • While I was at it, updated master branch name to main. Handout should match now ...
  • Big "wall of text" feeling in the slide talking about merge semantics. Can do better.

Carried over from last time:

  • Play music or something? I don't like how it gets all silent while people are typing away, even though of course that means that they're concentrating.
  • Live-presentation materials should emphasize more the freedom enabled by being able to give up on experiments safely.
  • Would be good to mention CI and other GitHub value-adds at the end.
  • Asking people to turn to their neighbors and introduce themselves is very effective for getting a nice hubbub in the room at the beginning of the session.
  • Idea: "gold stars" (stickers, WWT bookmarks, whatever) for good questions
  • Idea: command people to tell things to their neighbors at various stages of the tutorial to raise the mean chatter level.
  • Should add some scripts to auto-download the necessary font files and potentially other large-or-non-redistributable assets.
  • My slides don't fill up the browser window without manual zooming. Something weird in the reveal.js files here? The files are pretty old.

2019-11-12: Center for Astrophysics

  • Two-hour tutorial. The timing felt just about perfect. One hour for intro and Part 1, about 25 minutes each for Parts 2 and 3, and a bit of wrap-up.
  • About 18 attendees, right-sized for just me to manage everything.
  • Deployed the new landscape format handout with marginal notes. I like how it came out.
  • Had a spiel about branches and DAGs, delivered between Parts 1 and 2, rather than lots of text in the handout. I think this worked better, but still feel super unsure as to whether the graph-theory stuff is at all helpful.
  • Was happy with how new GitHub pull request bit worked out, and I like the way we accumulate "alumni" in the repo.
  • Should have a list of prerequisites somewhere: Unix-like CLI, git, web browser, GitHub account, Python installation with Numpy, a laptop, a code editor, extremely basic familiarity with Python. As ever, something to ponder is how to get the fiddly bits set up ahead of time (e.g., getting git to launch the right editor).
  • Play music or something? I don't like how it gets all silent while people are typing away, even though of course that means that they're concentrating.
  • Live-presentation materials should have emphasized more the freedom enabled by being able to give up on experiments safely.
  • Quickly mentioned CI and other GitHub value-adds at the end. I feel like that was an OK balance of time, but could have spent more time on that. CI, code review ... what else would be important to emphasize?
  • In 2 attempts thus far, asking people to turn to their neighbors and introduce themselves is very effective for getting a nice hubbub in the room at the beginning of the session.
  • Idea: "gold stars" (stickers, WWT bookmarks, whatever) for good questions
  • Idea: command people to tell things to their neighbors at various stages of the tutorial to raise the mean chatter level.
  • Several more advanced people were confused by the magic commit ID when creating the print-my-name branch. Just use origin/master? I forget why exactly I went this route.
  • Should add some scripts to auto-download the necessary font files and potentially other large-or-non-redistributable assets.
  • My slides weren't filling up the browser window. Something weird in the reveal.js files here? The files are pretty old.