Perspectives: Teaching chemists to code

Abstract

Spreadsheets are a standard tool in chemistry for simple tasks such as data analysis and graphing. Chemistry students are often introduced to spreadsheets their first year of college, if not earlier, and those who continue on to do research will likely use them as a means of handling and visualizing data. Although spreadsheets have more capabilities than many people realize, they are still limited in comparison with science-specific data-analysis software applications. For example, spreadsheets are currently incapable of or not well suited for image analysis, automated data processing, high-dimensional data analysis, complex simulations, and machine learning that are needed in modern chemical research laboratories. While some educators in the chemistry community have embraced advanced data-analysis software, it’s surprising that its use isn’t more common. And going beyond that, it’s surprising that computer programming has not effectively permeated the training of undergraduate chemistry majors. The Ameri...