Instructor Notes

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Course introduction

Better start with a software project

Instructor Note

Open up VS Code, and launch a Git Bash terminal. Call out how your prompt looks, and make sure that Windows users are not accidentally using PowerShell. Refer back to the setup section on configuring VS Code if anyone needs help.


Choose how you teach version control steps from here

At this point in the lesson, you may choose to demonstrate how the same steps of staging and committing changes can also be achieved with the VS Code graphical interface.

Screenshot of VS Code with the SOURCE CONTROL interface open in the left hand pane of the window. The interface shows one modified file staged for commit, an empty text input box where a commit meesage can be entered, and a green button labeled 'Commit & Push'
The Source Control interface to Git in VS Code

Depending on your relative levels of comfort working with that graphical interface and the command line interface to Git, you can choose how you want to demonstrate the remaining steps in this episode and when we use Git again elsewhere. The lesson will continue to present version control steps with the command line interface only.


Reproducible software environments

Instructor Note

Some learners may encounter various issues when creating and managing virtual development environments or configuring the Python interpreter path, depending on their specific system setup.

To assist with troubleshooting during workshops, we have compiled a list of common issues that instructors have observed in the past.

  • learners sometimes forget to activate the virtual environment - instructors should remind the learners about this at the start of each episode and also check for this during episodes, e.g. each time a new command line terminal window is started.
  • adding a Python installation to the beginning of the environment variable PATH, causes it to override Python from the virtual environment - always check for this with which python3 and python3 --version.
  • some learners have other environment variables set that can influence the Python interpreter and modules being loaded and used - e.g. PYTHONHOME (changes the location of the standard Python libraries), PYTHONPATH (augments the default search path for Python module files) or PYTHONSTARTUP (points to a Python script that is run before starting Python interactive mode for various enhancements like preloading modules, setting colors, etc.). Make sure they are unset before activating the environment, e.g. with:

BASH 

$ unset PYTHONHOME PYTHONPATH PYTHONSTARTUP
$ python3 -m venv ./venv_spacewalks

If you run into problems not mentioned here, please open an issue in the lesson repository so we can track them and update the lesson material accordingly.


Code readability

Code structure

Code correctness

Software documentation

Instructor Note

You may want to share the following README excerpts directly in chat or the shared notes document with learners to copy-paste.


Instructor Note

Make sure to mention the extra content on different open source software licences, briefly cover it if there is time, then focus on the technicalities of adding a license file to a code repository (as there is likely not going to be enough time to spend on different license types).


Open software management & collaboration

Wrap-up