[currymj]

there is an organization called Software Carpentry that is basically like this.

however, the real problem has more to do with incentives and funding than it does knowledge of software best practices. right now, if you take the time to write thoroughly-tested clean good code, all you're doing is handicapping your research career against people who can churn out papers faster than you. you can see this because code from computer science departments is nearly as bad as in other fields, even from students who have had real industry jobs and learned how to do the right thing.

it does seem like in this case, though, because the scripts were actually intended as a tool to be used by others, the investment in more careful testing might have been warranted.