Resursi

Resources for scientific computing

Some essential things for the computational astrophysicist

• Operating system:
  • your favorite Linux distro (I prefer the lightweight Xubuntu variant of Ubuntu). If you need Windows, you can run a Linux VM on top of Windows using VirtualBox
• Programming languages:
  • Python with numpy, scipy, pandas, astropy and matplotlib for analysis (Anaconda wraps everything up nicely for scientific use)
  • C/Fortran for heavy computation (Intel’s Fortran compiler is free for students)
  • LaTeX for writing papers (I use the MiKTeX package manager)
• IDEs:
  • vim
  • emacs with chocolate-rain color scheme
  • PyCharm for Python (free one year license for students)
  • Eclipse for Java, photran module for Fortran
  • NetBeans for C/C++
  • TeXnicCenter for LaTeX
• Version control:  git with Github (edu account for students) or Bitbucket (signup with and .edu address for academic account)
• Literature:
  • Mendeley
  • the arXiv
  • Vox Charta
• Miscellaneous:
  • Time Management: Google Calendar/Keep
  • E-mail: Gmail (learn how to use the keyboard shortcuts)
  • Evernote, Dropbox, dexpot, f.lux
• Optional stuff:
  • Coffee: aeropress, french press, drip, burr grinder, good beans
  • Computer: mechanical keyboard, big montiors
  • Music: some nice headphones and chill downtempo jazz or thumping electro, depending on whether you have a deadline or not