[Incf-ocns-software-wg] Call for participation: task force to work on Software development guidelines/best practices

[Ankur Sinha]

Dear all,

As discussed in the last monthly meeting, we would like to set up a
task force to work on delivering the first version the software
development guidelines/best practices.

https://ocns.github.io/SoftwareWG/2022/09/27/wg-meeting-19-september-2022.html

Context
--------

Computational neuroscience, and neuroscience in general, is extremely
multi-disciplinary. We are a mix of physicists, mathematicians,
biologists, chemists, engineers, computer scientists and more. Not all
these sectors receive formal training on software development---a lot of
us just learn what we need "on the job".

Usually, this means that folks are not aware of the best/suggested
software development best practices. This tends to result in "code
smell"[1] which leads to all sorts of general issues that the general
scientific community worries about, e.g.:

- code not being openly shared: if people perceive their code to be "not
  well written", they are less likely to share it openly
- unmaintained code: sometime after the code was shared/published, it is
  already outdated/unmaintained and requires lots of work to
  re-run/re-use
- reproducibility issues: does not reproduce the same results when run
  on different environments/platforms

So the goal here is to come up with a simple set of rules/do's and
don'ts/shoulds and musts that the community can use as a reference.

Please see this ticket for more information and discussion:
https://github.com/OCNS/SoftwareWG/issues/113

Join the task force
-------------------

Task forces are temporary teams that come together for the duration of a
project. Task forces work autonomously to deliver the goals/requirements
of the project. They decide when they meet, and how they work, and what
specific tasks/steps they take.

To join a task force, one must commit to spending time (a few hours a
week) on the activities of the task force:

- to work on the project related tasks that you are responsible for
- to regularly attend the meetings of the task force (frequency/time
  etc. to be decided by the task force itself)

Please comment on this ticket to let us know if you would like to join
this task force:

https://github.com/OCNS/SoftwareWG/issues/116

Why should you join the task force?
------------------------------------

There are lots of benefits of joining task forces. Here's an incomplete
list:

- form and strengthen connections with others in the research community
- gain and exchange in-depth knowledge on the project and related subjects
- have an extra, smaller, project to work on and gain regular positive
  reinforcement from (very useful for days when our primary projects are
  going slow or not going anywhere at all)

Projects may also lead to short papers, although that is for
the task force to decide.

Finally, all of this contributes to a stronger professional profile.

So, we'd really encourage everyone to please strongly consider
participating in the task force.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_smell

-- 
Thanks,
Regards,
Ankur Sinha (He / Him / His) | https://ankursinha.in
Research Fellow at the Silver Lab, University College London | http://silverlab.org/
Free/Open source community volunteer at the NeuroFedora project | https://neuro.fedoraproject.org
Time zone: Europe/London
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