Reproducibility in practice
Posted by Jordan Kersey
Sharing data anywhere is important
I think the most important benefit of programs, such as IPython, is the ability for multiple people to collaborate, remotely from one another. It’s extremely helpful to be able to contribute to changes and further analysis without having to be present in the same room (or even general area). This allows for more flexibility and the inclusion of more minds than previously. If inputs are greater, and more diverse, than perhaps we can achieve more as an entire community than was possible in the past.
I believe the significance of a journal such as Nature publishing an informative article like this one, implies that the practice of using reproducible document format is becoming more widespread. The scientific community has obviously made it apparent to publishers, such as Nature, that programs based upon reproducibility and dynamic documents are probably the way of the future.
I liked the point this article made about having greater ease of tackling complex analysis, with dynamic document format. It seems to me as though it’s the only way to keep all components of a large set of data together and share-able. It seems to me that the more organized and sufficient the program is, at combining all types of data and analysis, the more successful the outcome will be.
The Future…
I would be led to believe that reproducible/dynamic document format is likely to become ever more present within the scientific community (and beyond..). Many things take time to catch on, as word has to spread, and more people need to be trained to understand/use the program successfully. But, as it becomes more prevelent and the word about it’s benefits spread, I believe it will catch on fairly quickly. I think that it would be key for universities to include dynamic document classes (like this one), as undergraduate course-work (for all/most disciplines). If this was done, students would be more likely to use this method from the beginning and it wouldn’t be such a challenge to switch over. I wish I could have began learning this stuff when I was a freshman. Despite it taking a bit to catch on, I believe the greatness speaks for itself (once attempted), and therefore in time, dynamic document format will be majority of what’s available.
