Appendix 1: Critical preparation

Before the Block 1 Interactive Session you must get the following software working on your computer:

• A working R environment:
  • Rstudio which will prompt you to install:
  • R (if you have not already)
• A working Git environment:
  • Note that this is addressed in Workshop 1.3, the main workshop in Block 1

Before the Block 5 Workshop you must get the following software working on your computer:

• Jupyter Notebook

Useful options for group projects:

• Google Colab is a free online Jupyter notebook environment that requires no setup and runs entirely in the cloud. It even has free access to GPUs.
  • No sensitive information can be used on Colab.
  • Collaboration is very straightforward in this environment.
• Noteable (accessed via Blackboard) is a University of Bristol subscribed service that provides Jupyter notebooks with access to University of Bristol HPC resources. It is free to use for University of Bristol students.
  • No sensitive information can be used on Noteable.
  • Noteable will time out long jobs.

Reference material:

• Install R Studio and R
• How to set up Github Desktop and Git
• How to get access to BlueCrystal
• Virtual environments: see Appendix 3: Replicability
• How to work with Markdown