Which Sustainable Software Practices Do Scientists Find Most Useful?

We studied scientists who attended two-day workshops on basic software skills to determine which tools and practices they found most useful. Our preand post-workshop surveys showed increases in selfreported familiarity, while our interviews showed that participants found learning Python more useful than learning the Unix shell, that they found pointers to further resources very valuable, and that background material—the “why” behind the skills—was also very valuable.