Survey of High-level Computational Research:

Introduction to Real-World Processes and Methodology of Career Computational Research

Disclaimer: this work is not finalized and is still in development.

Course Type:

This will be a seminar-style elective course whose base curriculum meets once a week and is one credit.

Mission Statement:

This course is designed to introduce students to what it's like to do computational research as a career, day-after-day. Most courses focus on the technical aspects of program development without introducing students to what their day-to-day is actually going to look like. This course serves as an overview an precursor to what their days would look like if they choose to do computational research.

Prerequisites:

• 2 Programming courses

• Entire Calculus Suite

• Preferred:

  • • Introductory Physics Suite

Goals:

At the end of this course, students shall:

• Understand intuitively what it's like to do computational research

• Be able to read and analyze poorly documented (& well documented) code

• Understand the overall set-up and flow of common open-source codebases

• Differentiate heavily modular programming versus monolithic programming styles

• Determine whether they would like to do computational research in the future

Course Structure

The first iteration will most likely use the code xpdp1 through the PTSG code suite. Future iterations can branch into other PTSG codes or additional open-source codebases.

Week 1:

• Introduction to the Course

• Set-up VirtualBox and download the PTSG virtual machine

• Assignment:

  • Read original paper

  • Explain what xpdp1 does (due Week 2)

Week 2:

• Discuss overarching structure of xpdp1 and the number of subroutines and different files

• Assignment:

  • Go over function 1 (TBD) and add comments

  • Due week 3

Week 3:

• Discuss function 1

• Assignment: 

  • Go over function 2 and add comments

  • Due week 4

Week 4-11:

• Repeat pattern

Other weeks can be filled or cancelled as necessary.

Relevant, published journal articles will be provided in supplement to going over certain functions.

Credit Variances

2-credit:

• All 1-credit work

• Final Project:

  • Identify a flaw/gap in the codebase and propose a function to address it

  • Submit the solution as a report that address why and how

3-credit

• All 2-credit work including final project

• Meet an additional time per week that goes over additional papers of other open-sourced commonly used codebases.

Course Continuance

If the students are interested in continuing computational research, they can enact the final project proposal as part of my research group after the semester.