A Supercomputing Driver's License

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Software Carpentry and the Software Sustainability Institute are working together to develop a "driver's licence" for researchers who wish to use the DiRAC integrated supercomputing facility. The aim is to assess whether a researcher has the programming skills needed to use DiRAC productively, and if not, give them feedback on what further training they need. The hour-long test, which will include writing, coding, and interactive elements, will focus on fundamental skills including version control, unit testing, writing maintainable code, using Makefiles, and code review. Trials will begin this summer, and the completed test will be presented to DiRAC in September 2012.