COMP 215: Intro. to Computational Science

Lessons, Labs, and Projects for COMP 215 Intro. to Computational Science at Capilano University

Directory Structure

labs

Starter notebooks for lab assignments

lessons

In-class lessons, exercises, and reference material.

Weekly notebooks are used during class to structure discussion, answer questions, and to demonstrate or test ideas that arose during class in a given week.
Students should have a copy open and follow along during class.

foundations : reference notebooks that review and demonstrate fundamental python programming concepts, algorithms, and data structures covered in the weekly lessons

concepts : notebooks that explore the scientific concepts and models covered in the weekly lessons

algorithms : reference notebooks that develop & present re-usable algorithms and/or data structures that are re-used in the lessons, labs, or projects.

Note: for simplicity, rather than trying to import these as modules, simply copy-paste what you need into the notebook you are working in.

solutions

Sample solutions completed in class and lab. This folder is for the instructor to post solutions.
Modifying or saving files to this folder can cause "merge conflicts" - please don't.

Instructor's Branch Strategy

Problem : retain term history in repo, ideally a branch for each semester.

• keep it as simple as possible for students: reduce chance of mistakes; avoid merge conflicts
• simplest for all if everyone just works in default branch

Ideal Solution : use "release branch" strategy for term archive; with "feature branch" named main for student work.

• Collab always shows main as default branch (or alphabetical), regardless of actual default set in GH
• Students less likely to lose changes during fork sync if working in a different branch

1. develop courseware, fix bugs in template branch (master branch for repo)
2. each term, create semester branch (named for semester; set to default branch on GitHub)
3. when students fork repo, they create a main branch and make this their default branch on GitHub.
4. students work in their main/ default "feature branch".
5. students can sync fork any time without conflicts; use a pull-request to merge changes into main

Process

1. start of term:
   • create a semester branch from template (git checkout -b 2024.01 template; git push origin 2024.01)
   • make the 2024.01 branch the default on GH
   • consider removing any solutions from previous term's branch to a private local branch
2. student fork; create main branch; set it to default; work in main branch for production (current term):
   • students open lab assignments, exercises, and examples from main
3. updating courseware during term:
   • fix bugs, enhancements, new lessons, etc. in template branch
   • advanced students can also make PR's to template branch
   • merge bug fixes back to semester branch only for notebooks not yet modified by students
   • instructor posts completed workbooks and sample solutions to solutions folder in semester branch
   • students should always be able to sync / update semester branch without conflict
   • students can use a pull-request to merge changes from semester branch to main in controlled way
4. end of term:
   • merge any changes you want to keep from semester branch back into template branch

Simple Solution : use "release branch" strategy; work in "semester" release branch each term.

1. develop courseware, fix bugs in main branch
2. students work in semester branch, which is default branch and copy of main made at start of term.
3. post solutions and completed workbooks in instructor folder of semester branch

Process

1. start of term:
   • create a semester branch from main (git checkout -b 2024-Spr main; git push origin 2024-Spr)
   • make the semester branch the default on GH
   • consider removing any solutions from previous term's branch to a private local branch
2. work in semester branch for production (current term):
   • students open lab assignments, exercises, and examples from semester
   • instructor posts completed workbooks and sample solutions to instructor folder on semester branch
   • careful not to update any notebooks in semeseter branch that might create merge conflicts for students
3. updating courseware during term:
   • fix bugs, enhancements, new lessons, etc. in main branch
   • advanced students can also make PR's to main branch
   • merge bug fixes back to semester branch only for notebooks not yet modified by students
   • students should always be able to update semester branch without conflict
4. end of term:
   • merge any changes you want to keep from semester branch back into main branch