Data Carpentry Workshop Setup Instructions
Requirements: Data Carpentry's teaching is hands-on, so participants are encouraged to bring in and use their own laptops to insure the proper setup of tools for an efficient workflow once you leave the workshop. (We will provide instructions on setting up the required software several days in advance) There are no pre-requisites, and we will assume no prior knowledge about the tools.
Contact: Please email library@caltech.edu for questions and information not covered here.Setup
To participate in a Data Carpentry workshop, you will need working copies of the software described below. Please make sure to install everything and try opening it to make sure it works before the start of your workshop. If you run into any problems, please feel free to email the instructor or arrive early to your workshop on the first day. Participants should bring and use their own laptops to insure the proper setup of tools for an efficient workflow once you leave the workshop.
We maintain a list of common issues that occur during installation as a reference for instructors that may be useful on the Configuration Problems and Solutions wiki page.
A spreadsheet program
For this workshop you will need a spreadsheet program. Many people already have Microsoft Excel installed, and if you do, you're set! If you need a spreadsheet program, there are a few other options, like OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Install instructions for LibreOffice, which is free and open source, are here.
OpenRefine
OpenRefine (previously Google Refine) is a tool for data cleaning that runs through a web browser, and any browser - Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Explorer - should work fine. You will need to download OpenRefine and install it, and when you open it, it will run through the browser, but you don't need an internet connection, and the data will all be stored on your computer.
Windows
- Download OpenRefine Windows kit installer.
- To use it, unzip, and double-click on openrefine.exe (if you're having issues with openrefine.exe try refine.bat instead)
- OpenRefine will then open in your web browser.
- If it doesn't open automatically, open a web broswer after you've started the program and go to the URL http://localhost:3333 and you should see OpenRefine.
Mac OS X
- Download OpenRefine Mac kit installer.
- Open the downloaded .dmg file
- Drag the icon in to the Applications folder
- Double click on the icon and Google Refine will then open in your web browser.
- If it doesn't open automatically, open a web broswer after you've started the program and go to the URL http://localhost:3333 and you should see OpenRefine.
Linux
- Download OpenRefine Linux kit installer.
- To use it, extract, and type ./refine
- OpenRefine will then open in your web browser.
- If it doesn't open automatically, open a web broswer after you've started the program and go to the URL http://localhost:3333 and you should see OpenRefine.
Git
Git is a version control system that lets you track who made changes to what when and has options for easily updating a shared or public version of your code on github.com. You will need a supported web browser (current versions of Chrome, Firefox or Safari, or Internet Explorer version 9 or above).
You will need an account at github.com for parts of the Git lesson. Basic GitHub accounts are free. We encourage you to create a GitHub account if you don't have one already. Please consider what personal information you'd like to reveal. For example, you may want to review these instructions for keeping your email address private provided at GitHub.
Windows
We're going to be using GitHub Desktop to work with Git in this workshop. Download GitHub Desktop
Mac OS X
We're going to be using GitHub Desktop to work with Git in this workshop. Download GitHub Desktop
Linux
We're going to be using GitHub Desktop to work with Git in this workshop. Unfortunatly Linux support for for GitHub Desktop desktop is still in development. This unofficial release seems to be working for most people Download GitHub Desktop
R and RStudio
In the workshop, we will use RStudio. RStudio is a nice interface to the programming language R. To use RStudio, you need to install both R and RStudio.
Windows
- Download R from here
- Run the .exe file that was just downloaded
- Go to the RStudio Download page
- Under Installers select RStudio x.yy.zzzz - Windows XP/Vista/7/8
- Double click the file to install it
- Once it's installed, open RStudio to make sure it works and you don't get any error messages.
Mac OS X
- Go to CRAN and click on Download R for (Mac) OS X
- Select the .pkg file for the version of OS X that you have and the file will download.
- Double click on the file that was downloaded and R will install
- Go to the RStudio Download page
- Under Installers select RStudio x.yy.zzz - Mac OS X 10.6+ (64-bit) to download it.
- Once it's downloaded, double click the file to install it
- Once it's installed, open RStudio to make sure it works and you don't get any error messages.
Linux
- Follow the instructions for your distribution from CRAN.
For most distributions, you can use your package manager (e.g. for Debian/Ubuntu run
sudo apt-get install r-base, and for Fedora runsudo yum install R) but make sure that you have at least R 3.2.2 (as pre-packaged versions might be out of date). - To install RStudio, go to the RStudio Download page
- Under Installers select the version for your distribution.
- Once it's downloaded, double click the file to install it (or
sudo dpkg -i rstudio-x.yy.zzz-amd64.debat the terminal). - Once it's installed, open RStudio to make sure it works and you don't get any error messages.