Chapter 23. Further Musings on Computational Physics
At last, you have arrived! You are now ready to go forth into the wide world of computational physics. No matter where your specialty may take you, you now have the skills, abilities, and understanding to perform and reproduce great feats of scientific computing. For some of you, this book is all you will need to succeed. For others, this is only the beginning.
Where to Go from Here
What is so beautiful about the skills that you have learned in this book is that they empower you to go anywhere. Computational physics has taken us from deep within the Earth’s crust to the farthest reaches of the universe, from pole to pole, all around the world, and everything in between. Even asking “Where to?” can seem daunting.
The answer is that you should go where your interests lie. If you have a special part of physics that you already call home, research what computational projects are out there already. Then try a project out as a user. Join the mailing list. Ask the developers if they need help with anything, and try contributing back. A good project will be very welcoming to new users and contributors.
If there is nothing out there that does what you want, you don’t like the languages that the existing projects are written in, or you don’t agree with their licenses, try starting your own project—one that suits your needs. This is not scary, and with the existence of repository hosting websites like GitHub, it has become very easy. ...
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