[solved] moving on to opensesame

drorgarbi

hi
after we will do a little pilot we want our whole lab to use opensesame, till now we used E-prime2.
our lab members have no previous experience with python or opensesame
I would like to know if you have a recommendation regarding the change process?
how much of python is needed, which tutorials to use, what documentation to read?
if other labs had this experience I would be happy to hear from them too.
thank you
Dror Garbi

sebastiaan

Hi Dror,

I'm very happy to hear that you are considering OpenSesame for the whole lab! Regarding your questions:

how much of python is needed

That depends very much on the type of experiments that your lab usually creates. Simple experiments with text-based and/ or relatively simple stimulus displays usually do not require much Python coding. The more complex the experiment becomes, the more you will have to rely on coding. Some knowledge of Python is definitely recommended, but I would say that you can do more with the OpenSesame GUI than you can with E-Prime (since that's where you're coming from).

which tutorials to use, what documentation to read?

For OpenSesame, I would start with the standard tutorial. To learn Python, there are many tutorials and free E-Books around the web, which provide a good start. After you have some familiarity with Python, applying this knowledge to OpenSesame is straightforward. (i.e. you do not necessarily need a Python tutorial that is specific for OpenSesame.)

• http://osdoc.cogsci.nl/usage/step-by-step-tutorial/
• http://osdoc.cogsci.nl/python-inline-code/about-python-inline-code/#learning

OpenSesame is also being used at a number of universities for programming courses, and personally I will give a workshop at the 2013 APS convention and perhaps at other locations as well. The plan is to make as much teaching resources publicly available here. However, for now there is not that much available yet, except the material for a class at Ohio State (which might prove valuable).

Cheers!
Sebastiaan