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Computing

This page gathers a few useful ressources for computing.

LaTeX

• LaTeX wikibook

Python

Where to start?

Among the resources listed below, it is advised to start withe part I of the euroscipy lecture notes entitled "Getting started with Python for science". Then it may be of interest to go to STScI's data analysis tutorial which is more specific to observational astrophysics.

Python Install

In order to setup a scientific Python work environment several parts are necessary: Python 2, the generalist science libraries (NumPy, SciPy, matplotlib), and the astrophysics-specific libraries (for instance astropy). It is also useful to have the IPython interactive shell as well as an advanced editor (Vim, Emacs) configured for Python and/or an IDE (Eric, Spyder, eclipse with PyDev).

• Instructions to install a scientific Python work environment: PythonInstall
• The Ureka software collection (STScI/Gemini) gathers in particular a full Python 2 environment and IRAF

Scientific Python Tutorials

• Euroscipy lecture notes (2013) : Python Scientific Lecture Notes   PDF |   HTML
• STScI tutorial (2007) : Using Python for Interactive Data Analysis PDF

Python documentation

• Python 2 documentation
• The Python wiki
• Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs)
  • PEP 20 : The Zen of Python

Scientific Python documentation

• Reference documention:
  • NumPy Manual
  • SciPy Docs
  • matplotlib docs
• Code examples :
  • Numpy example list
  • Scipy cookbook
  • Scipy Central
  • matplotlib examples and gallery

Python books

• Think Python, Allen B. Downey (License Creative Commons)
• More books are listed at PythonBooks

Ressources for IDL users

• Comparison of Python and IDL for astronomers : IDL vs Python at astrobetter
• Automatic translation tool : i2py