Category Archives: discussion

AAS 221 splinter meeting “Astrophysics Code Sharing?”

Yesterday, Peter Teuben (UMd) moderated the splinter meeting “Astrophysics Code Sharing?” at the AAS 221 meeting in Long Beach. Panelists Omar Laurino (CfA), Robert Hanisch (STScI/VAO), Bruce Berriman (IPAC, Caltech), and I (that’d be Alice, editor of the ASCL) made short presentations before the floor was opened for comments. Spirited, even passionate, discussion, ensued, touching on why codes might not be released, sociological changes needed to foster release, the difference between release for transparency and release for reuse, the need to find a way to recognize those who join a collaborative coding project after the initial code paper is written, how to improve software writing skills among astrophysicists, and how nice it would be if the ASCL had a system and funding like the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse’s. Okay, that last thing might have just been in my head, but it would, indeed, be nice!

The slides for the splinter meeting are online and will be made available shortly as a downloadable PDF.

Omar Laurino joins panel for AAS splinter meeting “Astrophysics Code Sharing?”

Omar Laurino (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) has joined the panel for the ASCL-sponsored splinter meeting “Astrophysics Code Sharing?” at the upcoming AAS meeting in Long Beach. The topic of his short presentation is What do we want to accomplish?

Session date/time/location:
Wednesday, January 9
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Regency Ballroom D (Downtown Hyatt Long Beach)

Peter Teuben (Astronomy Department, UMD) will discuss the results of sessions on code release and discoverability from earlier conferences; he will also moderate the discussion. Robert Hanisch (STScI/VAO) will talk on Integrity in the publication process and Bruce Berriman (IPAC, Caltech) will cover Code repositories in other disciplines. ASCL editor Alice Allen will share a little information about (surprise!) the ASCL. The floor will be open for discussion and sharing after the five-minute presentations. And we’ll have glow-in-the-dark pencils to give away, too!

A preferred reference method seems to be evolving

Looking recently at references to code entries, I see most are in the format:

    author, year, in Astrophysics Source Code Library, record ascl ID

For example: Barnes, J. E., 2011, Astrophysics Source Code Library, record ascl:1102.027

Using the entire ascl ID (ascl:xxxx.xxx) in the reference enables ADS to more easily pick up the citation. It may be helpful to the reader to include the name of the code as well:

    Barnes, J. E., 2011, ZENO, Astrophysics Source Code Library, record ascl:1102.027

The ascl ID number can be used to provide a link to a particular entry. For the example above, typing ascl.net/1102.027 into your browser brings up the entry for the code ZENO.

Astrophysics Code Sharing?

Astrophysics Code Sharing? is the title of a splinter meeting the ASCL is sponsoring at the upcoming AAS meeting in Long Beach. The session date/time/location are:

Wednesday, January 9
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Regency Ballroom D (Downtown Hyatt Long Beach)

Peter Teuben (Astronomy Department, University of Maryland) will chair the discussion. Some of the subjects to be covered in the presentations highlight recent developments:

    • Astrophysics Source Code Library (ASCL)
    • Results of recent discussion about code release and discoverability: eScience meeting (Chicago, Oct 2012), ADASS conference (Urbana-Champaign, Nov 2012)
    • Integrity in the publication process
    • Code repositories in other disciplines

We invite participants to suggest other short topics to present by contacting the organizers at editor@ascl.net. The panelists presenting the topics listed above include Bruce Berriman (IPAC, Caltech), Robert J. Hanisch (STScI/VAO), and Alice Allen (ASCL).

After short presentations on the state of astronomical software, the floor will be opened for discussion on issues relating to the discoverability of codes and transparency of numerical and computational research methods.

 

ADASS Birds of a Feather session

Several of the ASCL’s Advisory Committee are panelists for a Birds of a Feather session that seeks answers to the following questions:

How do we ensure code release is recognized as an essential part of assuring reproducibility of research?

How can the community change the culture so developers will release their programs?

What can we do to ensure code authors receive credit for writing and releasing their software, and encourage them to release it even if it’s “messy” code?

How do we reduce expectations of support when a developer does not wish to (or cannot) take on that role after program release?

What role might journal publishers and funding agencies have in furthering code release, and how can the community influence them to take on that role?

How can universities be convinced to change policies which prohibit software publication?

Can funding agencies and publishers encourage documentation of programs, and if so, how?

Got answers? Ideas? Comments? Please share!

Papers to read

Best Practices for Scientific Computing. What can I say? Good reading! Please don’t let not following its recommendations stop you from making your code(s) public or from submitting it/them to the ASCL, however. Offer them up with the CRAPL license; make your codes available no matter how messy they are. After all, Astronomical Software Wants To Be Free. And really, science requires it.