I have just published this book in electronic and print formats ( iBooks and Amazon). This work aims at providing science and engineering students/post-docs a series of concepts found in real-life scientific projects, including concepts of programming, code testing, internal representation, rounding errors, tricks of the trade, advice on best practice to store data for long-term usage as well as a broad introduction to the Unix environment which they will find when coding for HPC and cloud computing. I do not focus on any individual language but the elements common to all of them. I cover the value of designing the code carefully, planning for future use and scalability, either using flowcharts or just "generic code". I give an overview of the tools available to tackle different problems. Sections as diverse as working with existing code and working with time are covered. This book is intended to ease the learning curve for those starting, not for the seasoned scientific programmer. Click here for a more detailed description including a table of contents.

Patricio F. Ortiz is an RSE based on the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, The University of Sheffield, mostly involved with the design and implementation of the architecture for the Urban Flows Observatory project. Its objective is to monitor a number of variables in a urban environment, from whether variables, air pollution to behaviour of construction materials. Its data can potentially be correlated with data dealing with human activities and human health issues, and it could involve several disciplines in the long run. The Urban Flows Observatory is mostly financed by EPSRC and UKCRIC. Sheffield is one of a handful of cities involved in this nationwide effort.