Forgive me if this has been covered already, but I am curious about the use of computers in Science
I have to add a quick sentence here just to prevent the questions overlaying the initial graphic
I'll pose this as a Questionnaire, and would appreciate numbered answers if you respond, thanks
- Do you use a computer for your work?
- What Operating System does it use?
- Windows, MacOSX, a version of Linux or BSD, or something specifically written for your work?
- a) Do you know of or use Open Source Software, invariably free, or Proprietary, bought and paid for? b) I'm particularly interested in what document formats you publish your work in?
- Do you have computer breakdowns at critical times in what you are doing, and do you fix them yourself, or call for maintenance?
- Do you have training courses on your computer systems?
- What would you suggest could be done to improve your computer use?
- Any other comments?
What prompted this, you may wonder?
Well, aside from an interest in Linux, and a few hiccups using this SciBlog editor.....
If you're going to do good science, release the computer code too
Programs do more and more scientific work - but you need to be able to check them as well as the original data, as the recent row over climate change documentation shows
Darrel Ince guardian.co.uk,
Friday 5 February 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/feb/05/science-climate-emails…
For an explanation of OSes, for those who don't know, see
http://tunes.org/Review/OSes.html
http://www.theosfiles.com/
http://distrowatch.com/
Aitch
