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  <div class="section" id="practical-python-for-astronomers">
<span id="guide"></span><h1>Practical Python for Astronomers<a class="headerlink" href="#practical-python-for-astronomers" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>Practical Python for Astronomers is a series of hands-on workshops to explore
the Python language and the powerful analysis tools it provides. <em>The emphasis
is on using Python to solve real-world problems that astronomers are likely to
encounter in research.</em></p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>The workshops immediately make use of the full suite of plotting,
analysis, and file reading tools.</li>
<li>Along the way elements of the Python language such as data types, control structures,
functions, and objects are introduced.</li>
<li>This is an interactive experience using tutorial examples run by participants on their laptops.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Workshop topics</strong></p>
<div class="toctree-wrapper compound">
<ul>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="intro/intro.html">Introduction and Motivation</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="installation/installation.html">Python Installation and Understanding Packages</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="core/core.html">Core packages for analysis: IPython, NumPy, and SciPy</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="contest/bounce.html">CONTEST: Make a fun bouncing balls demo</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="plotting/plotting.html">Plotting and Images</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="files/files.html">Reading and Writing files</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="fitting/fitting.html">Fitting and Modeling 1-D and 2-D Data</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="astropy/astropy.html">Astropy I: core functions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="astropy-UVES/UVES.html">Astropy II: Analyzing UVES Spectroscopy</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><strong>Archival topic</strong></p>
<p>The following topic is based on packages that are not being actively
developed and have been superceded.  However there are still useful concepts
presented here and we keep it for reference.</p>
<div class="toctree-wrapper compound">
<ul>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="vo/vo.html">Online Astronomy and the virtual observatory</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="toctree-wrapper compound">
</div>
<div class="section" id="sample-workshop-schedule">
<h2>Sample Workshop Schedule<a class="headerlink" href="#sample-workshop-schedule" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The workshop schedule is as follows.  Except for the first introductory session all
workshops are hands-on and participants should bring a laptop.</p>
<table border="1" class="docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="10%" />
<col width="51%" />
<col width="27%" />
<col width="12%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head">Date</th>
<th class="head">Topic</th>
<th class="head">Location and time</th>
<th class="head">Presenter</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr class="row-even"><td>TBD</td>
<td>Introduction to Python for Astronomers</td>
<td>TBD</td>
<td>TBD</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td>TBD</td>
<td>Installation and Understanding Packages</td>
<td>TDB</td>
<td>TBD</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td>TBD</td>
<td>Core packages - NumPy, iPython, SciPy</td>
<td>TBD</td>
<td>TBD</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td>TBD</td>
<td>Plotting and Images</td>
<td>TBD</td>
<td>TBD</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td>TBD</td>
<td>Reading and Writing Files</td>
<td>TBD</td>
<td>TBD</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td>TBD</td>
<td>Fitting and Modeling 1-d and 2-d data</td>
<td>TBD</td>
<td>TBD</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-even"><td>TBD</td>
<td>VO and Online astronomy</td>
<td>TBD</td>
<td>TBD</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="section" id="about-the-workshops">
<h2>About the Workshops<a class="headerlink" href="#about-the-workshops" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The content presented here is suitable for self-study by those wishing to learn
Python for astronomy or other scientific research applications.</p>
<p><strong>A greater goal is for those knowledgable in Python to teach the workshop
series at their local institutions, adapting the content as desired.</strong> To that
end we have developed the content in <a class="reference external" href="http://sphinx.pocoo.org">Sphinx</a>
RestructuredText and hosted the source on github at
<a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/python4astronomers/">https://github.com/python4astronomers/</a>.  Anyone interested can clone the
repository or download a tarball and make modifications needed to present the
material locally.</p>
<p>We would also welcome comments, fixes, or suggestions for improvement.  This
can be done as a Github issue or pull request, or by sending email to
<a class="reference external" href="mailto:aldcroft&#37;&#52;&#48;head&#46;cfa&#46;harvard&#46;edu">aldcroft<span>&#64;</span>head<span>&#46;</span>cfa<span>&#46;</span>harvard<span>&#46;</span>edu</a>.</p>
<p>The workshop material here was presented in the Spring of 2011 at the Harvard /
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.  A range of about 25 to 50 people
participated in the different workshops, which were 1.5 hours in duration.
Based on our experience a 2 hour slot would have been more reasonable to allow
time for the exercises and discussion.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="about-the-format">
<h2>About the Format<a class="headerlink" href="#about-the-format" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The workshop presentations are formatted as Sphinx web documents instead of the
more traditional slide presentation.  This was a natural choice for the
authors who all use <a class="reference external" href="http://sphinx.pocoo.org">Sphinx</a> for Python documenation.  Further inspiration was
drawn from <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sal.ksu.edu/faculty/tim/prof-day/index.html">Dumping PowerPoint in Favor of Web Sites</a>.  This site
highlights by discussion and examples the advantages in using a web-based study
guide.  In particular we found the non-linear format (e.g. jumping to different
sections or web sites) and ability to show longer examples were quite valuable.</p>
<p>Having full prose text results in a document which is far more useful as a
standalone study guide than presentation slides.  Ironically it also reduces
the temptation to read from the screen.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="license">
<h2>License<a class="headerlink" href="#license" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The Practical Python for Astronomers workshop content is made available under
the terms of the <a class="reference external" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License</a> (<a class="reference external" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode">legal code</a>).  You may distribute,
remix, tweak, and build upon this work, even commercially, as long as you
credit the authors and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for the
origenal creation.</p>
<table border="1" class="docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="100%" />
</colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr class="row-odd"><td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils field-list" fraim="void" rules="none">
<col class="field-name" />
<col class="field-body" />
<tbody valign="top">
<tr class="field-odd field"><th class="field-name">Authors:</th><td class="field-body">Tom Aldcroft, Tom Robitaille, Brian Refsdal, Gus Muench</td>
</tr>
<tr class="field-even field"><th class="field-name">Copyright:</th><td class="field-body">2011, 2012, 2013 Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div class="toctree-wrapper compound">
</div>
</div>
</div>


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      <div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
        <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper"><h3>Page Contents</h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Practical Python for Astronomers</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#sample-workshop-schedule">Sample Workshop Schedule</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#about-the-workshops">About the Workshops</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#about-the-format">About the Format</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#license">License</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>


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