How to use the Workbook
The Workbook is divided into two sections: the Workbook
Core, and Other Workbook Pages. The Workbook
Core is the "mandatory" section, and Other Workbook Pages
is the "optional" section.
The Workbook Core
All users should work through the Workbook Core.
The Workbook Core is made up of different sections.
Many of the later sections assume that you have completed
the earlier sections, so it is important to complete the
sections in order.
Some of the Workbook Core sections include tutorials/examples,
while others are mostly read-only documents.
The examples will teach you how to use BaBar software,
and can be very useful as a guide later on when you are
ready to perform your own analysis. The read-only sections
are also very useful, because they will help you to understand
what you were doing in the tutorials.
Once you have completed the Workbook Core, you will have
mastered the fundamentals of working with BaBar software
and running analysis code.
Other Workbook Pages
The "Other Workbook Pages" are pages that do not belong
in the Workbook Core. Unlike the pages of the Core, they
are not interdependent - you can choose to read/try any or
none of them, and you do not have to complete them in
any particular order.
The Other Workbook Pages have been futher divided
into four different categories:
- Reference - Some read-only reference
information about BaBar and SLAC. Independent of
the Workbook Core.
- Basic tutorials - You will need to learn
unix and C++ at some point during your BaBar career.
- Advanced Tutorials - These are optional
tutorials that are more advanced than the ones in the
Workbook Core. The skills they teach may not be needed
by all users.
Workbook Contents
Here is a list of the contents of the BaBar Workbook, with
a brief description of each section.
The descriptions may help you to decide what pages
in the "Other" section you want to use.
Workbook Core
The following sections should be completed in order.
- Introduction
How to use the Workbook.
- Account Setup
How to set up your SLAC Account.
- QuickTour
A quick tutorial in which you perform all the basic steps
of a BaBar analysis. This section is the core of the Workbook;
most other pages refer back to it as the main example.
- Packages and releases
Packages and releases: what they are, how they are named,
and how they are organized in BaBar's file system. How
to use SRT/CVS commands to check out releases and packages.
- Modules and the Framework
Introduction to modules. How modules are put together to
make an analysis job.
- Event Information
How to access the event information, and what information is
available. Includes tables of the main particle candidate
lists and event variables in the Event Store database.
- Tcl: Run-time job control
How to interact with the Framework and talk to modules.
- Editing module code
How to write code in modules. Using the main C++ objects:
HepHistogram, HepTuple, BtaCandidate, and HepAList.
- Compile and Link
All about gmake, BaBar's compile-and-link utility.
- Run the job
How to run BaBar executables. Program flow. The workdir package.
- Debugging
Using the debuggers to track run-time errors.
- Run-time parameters
How to make module parameters into run-time parameters.
- Tcl files
Basic Tcl commands. How Tcl files work. Tcl files in the context
of packages.
- Find Data
Using BbkDatasetTcl to find data, and to produce tcl files that
can be used as input to an analysis job.
- Batch Processing
How to use the batch system. Batch commands. The batch queues and what they
are for. Computing CPU time for batch system log files.
- Analysis Tools
An overview of important analysis tools, including PID, vertexing and fitting, particle composition, and more.
- ROOT I
An introduction to ROOT. Focus is on histograms. Soon will be updated
to include a section on TTrees.
Other Workbook pages
You may refer to these pages if and when you need to.
- Info Resources
A list of useful sources of general information at BaBar.
- BaBar Detector
A brief overview of the BaBar detector.
- Unix
An introduction to Unix. Optional - but you will need to
learn unix sometime, somehow. Note that this section also contains some
useful SLAC-specific information.
- C++
An introduction to C++. Optional - but you will need to learn
C++ sometime, somehow.
- SRT/CVS commands
A list and description of some useful SRT/CVS commands for
editing code, and for managing packages and releases.
- Sim/Reco
(Simulation and Reconstruction.) How data is translated from detector signals to reconstructed
data in the Event Store. How simulated data is produced.
Tutorial: How to run the reconstruction and simulation executables.
(Most users will not need the tutorial, as most users do not run
the reco/sim executables.)
- Make CM2 Ntuples
Advanced tutorial that takes the user through a full analysis
job using the BtaTupleMaker and Simple Composition packages.
- ROOT II, III
More advanced ROOT tutorials. ROOT II is a grab-bag of topics. ROOT III focuses
on how to make and run selection code over ntuples produced in the CM2 ntuples
tutorial.
- PAW I, II
PAW tutorials. PAW is what people used before ROOT was invented.
If you're a new user, you probably don't want to learn it. But the tutorials
will stay in the Workbook for those who need them.
Send comments to Workbook Team.
