What's a "GouTP" ?

• Internal monthly technical training session
• Usually30pm*

• With coffee and sweets : we relax while training !

  Initiative of Quentin and Vincent in last January... Continued by Rémi, Rami, Muhammad and Lilian !

Not only @ SCEE ?

• 2nd and 3rd GouTP will be open to the FAST team → If success, next ones will be open to other research teams @ Supelec Rennes

Agenda for today [30 min]

1. Concept of version control with git (demo) [10 min]

2. Research collaboration on code or articles with git (examples, good practice) [5 min]

3. Why we should all share our simulation code online, and under an open-source licence (and even the LaTeX code!) [10 min]

4. Example of open-sourcing the MATLAB code and LaTeX code from a recent article [5 min]

Why Git ?

Version control ...

• Veru useful to:
  • Never lose your code
  • Keep track of progress, revert changes when needed
  • Collaborate easily and asynchronously
• Git is used everywhere, easy to learn and powerful
• Free online hosting: Bitbucket, GitHub, GitLab etc...

Tutorial online !

• Try this please → https://Try.GitHub.io

Quick live demo of Git

Meta demo ?

• I store all my slides on GitHub...
• ... Including the source code for this one

• Let see together ! → live demo of local use of git

  • basic commands for a use in a terminal
  • or in a graphical interface (e.g., inside your IDE)

  → live demo of the online repository (on GitHub)

Research collaboration with git

Why ?

• Easiest way to collaborate on code or article
• No email, no painful Dropbox/Drive synchronization ...
• Full control on your files' history and the synchronization !

How ?

1. Create a (private) repository that your colleagues can access
2. Where? Example: Bitbucket, GitHub (with student pack), GForge @ Inria, OverLeaf (for LaTeX)...
3. Start collaborating with no sweat !

Share your simulation code online

Why ?

• Everyone can (hopefully) reproduce your code and results
• Show to the world that you do serious reproducible science !!

How ?

1. Clean up your source code, and add a few comments
2. Write a small README.md file to explain: how to run your code, for which article it was used, conditions of usage etc
3. Maybe add an example, or figures / screenshots
4. Ex: https://Bitbucket.org/SCEE_IETR/Testbed_Monitor for an internal tool, or https://Bitbucket.org/SCEE_IETR/RL_Slotted_IoT_Networks for an article

Join the open-source community !

• https://ChooseALicense.com to pick a license suiting your needs
• By default HAL uses a Creative Commons license (with various flavors). Example : HAL.Inria.fr/HAL-01575419
• But arXiv does not specify the license (on document and source) : that's bad ! No one can use your code if you do not specify any copyright or usage conditions...

My advice ?

• I suggest the MIT License for simulation code (short & well-known) and Creative Commons for documents and LaTeX

Example of sharing on Bitbucket the simulation code from an article

It takes 10 minutes:

1. Clean up the MATLAB files
2. Add a few comments in the tricky parts
3. Add a header to the files stating the copyright
4. Choose a license and add a LICENSE file
5. Write a README.md file in the folder
6. Create the repository, git add all the files
7. git push, check the result, and relax !

→ https://Bitbucket.org/SCEE_IETR/RL_Slotted_IoT_Networks

And open-sourcing the LaTeX code?

Note: this is not against the copyright policies of conferences/journals if you do not share the PDF...

• Not so useful for articles with basic templates, but why not?
• Can help your colleagues if you use a nice template for posters or slides
• Can also help when writing your thesis, you can copy-paste equations from your colleagues' articles instead of re-writing...
• Example: https://Bitbucket.org/LBesson/Multi-Armed-Bandit-Learning-in-IoT-Networks-Learning-Helps

Conclusion

• I hope you got an overview of how to use git
• Why it can be a good idea to share your simulation code
• And why choosing an open-source license is smart !

Your mission, if you accept it...

• Padawan level: Train yourself on git → https://Try.GitHub.io
• Jedi level: Release some simulation code online !
• Master level: Release all your code (and LaTeX) online !!

Thanks for joining ! Contact us if you want to do a GouTP!