UCS Training Programme Lent Term 2010

The course is designed to take someone from having no knowledge of the Unix command line to being able to navigate around directories, and doing simple file manipulation. Then some of the more basic commands, will be introduced, including information on how to get more help from the system itself. Finally accessing remote computers by ssh and the most basic of shell scripts will be introduced.

This course is part of the Scientific Computing series.

Matlab is a software package for numerical computation with high quality graphics facilities. This course is for beginners and new users of the package and describes basic concepts and use of Matlab, but not any other optional 'Toolboxes' available from the developers of Matlab.

This course is part of the Scientific Computing series.

Mathematica is a software package for numerical computation, symbolic manipulation and the production of graphics from mathematical functions and data. This course is for beginners and new users of the package and describes basic concepts and use of Mathematica.

LaTeX is a powerful document description language built on top of TeX. It is available on Unix, Windows and Macintoshes. It can be used for the presentation of plain text (including accented characters and letters outside the English alphabet), the typesetting of mathematics, the generation of tables, and producing simple diagrams. It is particularly suited for the writing of theses, papers and technical documents.

This course is for new users who have learnt how to get data into Stata, and know how to operate basic syntax having completed the Basics course or through self-study with the student version or manuals. Emphasis will be on examples of running applied analyses of regression models for continuous, binary and ordinal outcomes using standard Stata procedures. Guidance will also be provided on further addons that may be of interest.

LaTeX is a powerful document description language built on top of TeX. It is available on Unix, Windows and Macintoshes. It can be used for the presentation of plain text (including accented characters and letters outside the English alphabet), the typesetting of mathematics, the generation of tables, and producing simple diagrams. It is particularly suited for the writing of theses, papers and technical documents.

The rendering time for web pages is dominated by the graphics on the page. This course teaches methods of preparing graphics so minimise information loss and maximise transfer and rendering efficiency. There is an opportuinity to try the methods using PhotoShop.

This course which is a follow up from the Excel Further Use course, covers some more advanced features of Excel 2007. The course will be taught using Excel 2007 on PCs (Windows XP) but Macintosh users of Excel 2008 should also find it useful.

This course gives a simple introduction to organizing your data in a relational database. It aims to explain the arranging of your data. It does not deal with specific relational databases systems such as Access, Oracle or SQL Server, or the technical tools that you would or could use to set up your database. The course aims to provide you with enough information to sit down and design your database, regardless of the database product that you intend to use. Exercises will be done on paper, without using computers.

This course describes how patterns in text strings can be matched using regular expressions. A number of programming and scripting languages (such as Python, Perl, and Java) and other applications (such as Apache, PHP, Exim, and some text editors) support the use of regular expression patterns. Although there are some differences between the different implementations, there is also a lot in common.

The course has been modified and extended from the one previously given by Philip Hazel, the author of the PCRE ("Perl Compatible Regular Expressions") library, one of the standard and widely used regular expression libraries. The extensions are: Python and Java to the same level as Perl and PCRE; more warnings about problem areas, background usage and programming hints; and a short section on true (computer science) regular expressions and their uses when transferring data between programs.

Talk, don't type: reduce RSI and increase work productivity by dictating text and controlling your PC by voice. This course, which is of particular benefit to users wishing to prevent or reduce the impact of RSI, gives an introduction to Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice activated software. At the end of the course, the student will be able to control his/her PC and produce notes and documents by voice.

This follow-up practical gives those who have attended the LaTeX Introduction an opportunity to do exercises under supervision.