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Software setup
Below are links to installing and setting up the software we will commonly use (whether you are on a PC or a Mac), along with links to useful software manuals:
We use GitHub for task management and software version control. Send your GitHub username to the group member in charge of setting up the GitHub repository, so that you can be added. If you have not used GitHub before, join GitHub and install Git
- You must also install git-lfs, which we will use to sync output files (typically pdfs) through GitHub.
- If you do not have lfs, but other GH users do, there will likely be merge conflicts. We want to avoid those, so be sure to install lfs before cloning the project repo to your local machine. See the bottom of Rich Sweeney's git tips page for more on lfs.
- The git install above will let you interact locally with git via the command line or bash. If you prefer a gui, you can also install GitHub desktop, which is handy for selecting which files to include in commits and for viewing diffs on your local machine.
Resources for learning git and GitHub workflow:
- Primer on version control systems and command line git
- Configuring git; git shortcuts
- git-lfs additional info
- 10-minute GitHub guide
- GitHub learning resources
- Rich Sweeney has written nice resources for getting started in git that follows our workflow, along with a list of git command line tips and tricks.
- Rich also has a page on using GitHub desktop
- Nice walk-through of the GitHub workflow for creating branches, creating pull requests, and merging pull requests. Commits in our lab should almost always be made to branches--not master--that are linked to issues and then merged in to master via a pull request.
- Guide on mastering markdown, which is the language for writing readme files and issue comments in GitHub
Important: when you clone a project repo from GitHub to your local machine, you must clone into a local drive, not to dropbox
- The auto-syncing in dropbox (or other services like Box Sync) are likely to corrupt the repo
- On a Windows machine, I recommend saving repos on a path like C:\Projects[repo name]
We use Slack for: (1) brief communications and questions that can be easily resolved without creating a formal GitHub issue; and (2) recording meeting notes. Download desktop and mobile apps for Slack.
We write papers in latex. You will need a latex compiler from MikTex (use a complete installation, not the basic one) as well as a text editor that integrates with MikTex. TeXstudio, Texmaker, and WinEdt are options, among others, you might consider.
We frequently conduct analyses in Stata. A university license may be available, or you can order Stata directly.
- UNC Population Center
- A Little Bit of Stata Programming Goes a Long Way
- An Introduction to Modern Econometrics Using Stata, hard copy
We also frequently use R, especially to work with spatial data.
Download R.
You may wish to use R Studio to edit R code.
Simulation and estimation routines will often be done in Matlab. A university license may be available, or you can order Matlab directly.
Python is a flexible object-oriented programming language that we occasionally use.
- Install Python 2. You should install Anaconda with Python version 2.7.
- Software Carpentry
- Dive into Python