abstract.txt

Programming For Engineers
Featuring Excel Automation with Visual Basic for Applications

In this four-day webinar series, participants will review fundamental computer
science and programming concepts in the context of writing Visual Basic for
Applications (VBA) "macros" to automate Microsoft Excel. We'll build simple
automated tools for common oil & gas tasks while covering algorithms, data
structures, program design, and debugging. Along the way we'll explore the
Excel automation API, discuss the limitations of the Excel/VBA environment, and
discover some topics for future self-directed learning.

Session 1
In the first one-hour session, we'll cover fundamental programming concepts in
the context of the VBA language. Data types, functions, and basic data
structures will be used to build simple calculations that can be used from
Excel spreadsheets.

Session 2
In the second one-hour session, we'll discuss object-oriented programming and
begin exploring the Excel automation API. We'll begin work on a larger "case
study" project and use the VBA debugger to locate programming errors.

Session 3
In the third one-hour session, we'll complete the case study project started in
the second session. We'll also discuss how to provide a graphical user
interface for Excel automation projects using VBA's built-in tools.

Session 4
In the final session, we'll review what we've accomplished, survey selected
additional topics, and discuss other programming languages and paradigms that
participants may wish to learn in the future.


About the Instructor
Derrick W. Turk is an independent data science consultant supporting the E&P
industry. His consulting work frequently incorporates completion optimization,
reservoir characterization, machine learning, and custom software development.
He is the author of the aRpsDCA open-source library for decline curve analysis
and developer of several proprietary custom software systems for production
forecasting, portfolio modeling, and other tasks. Prior to his consulting
career, he worked as a reservoir engineer assisting exploration and A&D efforts
with numerical and statistical modeling. Derrick holds a B.S. in Mechanical
Engineering degree from the University of Texas and has been a member of SPE
since 2010.