Linux
My current OS is Ubuntu 12.10 (with the Gnome shell) after several years on Vista. If you’re looking to make the switch (which was surprisingly easy and pleasant for Ubuntu), you can find a good introduction to the terminal here. Also, here’s a cheat sheet and some additional, more obscure commands. I found even more help by looking at the course site for a Linux class at Penn (the lecture slides in particular).
Latex/Beamer
After years of wanting to smash Microsoft Word for its mildly schizophrenic handling of margins, spacing, and general formatting, I’ve since ditched Word for Latex and couldn’t be happier. If you’re considering the same (and you really should, especially if you need to typeset equations), I use Vim with Latex-Suite. There’s the additional benefit of both Vim and Latex being open source alternatives.
Here’s how to install Vim and Latex-Suite from the Linux command line. If you’re unfamiliar with Vim and how that works, you can type vimtutor at the Linux command line for a great and active introduction. Alternatively, there’s a nifty interactive tutorial and a good post on learning Vim progressively. For more info on Latex, run a Google search, and you’ll find several thousand tutorials and references.
From there, you might consider ditching PowerPoint as well, in exchange for Beamer. Here’s a blog post on the subject I found very helpful. Also, here’s a collection of templates to use. Again, you’ll find plenty of other resources if you run a Google search. These sites are just how I got started.
Finally, my .vimrc file and some other templates can be found here if you want to use them:
- .vimrc file
- Latex template
- Beamer Template
R Programming
If you’re going to be doing any kind of data analysis, you’ll probably come into contact with R. UCLA has already collected plenty of resources. I also recommend RStudio as a nice-looking IDE, much nicer than the 1980s-throwback-style IDE that comes out of the box.
Stata Resources
Again, UCLA has put together a really good set of resources. If you don’t feel like combing through those links, and you’re looking a quick intro, check out Princeton’s guide.
Python
Python was the very first programming language I learned, and I–along with many others with more experience than myself–happen to think that it’s a great first-language for anyone looking to learn how to code. You can try MIT OpenCourseWare’s class (which I used) or Udacity’s CS101. I’ve also heard good things about Code Academy too, but I don’t have any experience with it.
Matt Cocci 