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This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Here's some feedback from participants in our Oslo workshop:

Good
  • Discovered a dishwasher
  • Test-driven development
  • Lots of anecdotes
  • Power plugs and coffee!
  • Jokes (no, really)
  • Reminded me why I should use version control
  • Inspirational
  • Discovering the web page
  • Not slaughtered by Vikings (yet)
  • Good teaching skills
  • Free!
Bad
  • Lunch at twelve, please
  • Didn't cover SQL
  • Need to show code and output side by side
  • Couldn't keep up with typing
  • Greg speaks too fast
  • Not good context for some examples
  • Matrix programming lacked exercises and examples
  • More exercises please
  • 34 registered, 15 attended
  • Tell us more about installation
  • Lack of key point summaries
  • Too short

And from our Columbia University workshop in New York City (see also this great writeup from the course instructor, Dr. Rachel Schutt):

Good
  • Lot of new information
  • Collaboration!
  • Pair programming
  • Programming can be elegant!
  • Many practical hints on productivity
  • New Python tricks
  • Liked evidence-based anecdotes
  • Clustered necessary things together
  • Interaction with students
  • Breaks were perfectly timed
  • Epd installation (yay!)
Bad
  • Installation hell
  • Too much focus on impractical details
  • Struggled to get code off screen into my machine
  • No conversation about base knowledge
  • Too little on data scrubbing
  • Not enough practical answers
  • Got totally lost (not time to copy examples)
  • No chance to write down URLs etc.
  • Too early for Saturday
  • Doesn't leave enough time for homework
  • Epd was hell to uninstall
  • How to apply to R
  • Out-of-order examples