Caring for Your Data

In the long run, your data matters more than your code. It´s worth investing some effort to keep your data in good shape for years to come. Data is at the heart of science. A scientist is expected to be able to back up all published conclusions with data. Data management should thus be a priority in science. Scientists can´t afford to lose data, be uncertain of what it means, or not know where it came from. In the experimental sciences, there´s a long tradition of writing down all experimental setups, parameters, and results meticulously in a lab notebook. Unfortunately, computational science is much less rigorous about data handling, although there are clear signs of improvement. Here, we´ll consider what you can do to better prepare and manage your data.