Blog Post

Python Jupyter Notebooks in Azure

,

There’s a new feature in Azure, and I stumbled on it when someone posted a link on Twitter. Apologies, I can’t remember who, but I did click on the Azure Notebooks link and was intrigued. I’ve gotten Jupyter notebooks running on my local laptop, but these are often just on one machine. Having a place to share a notebook in the cloud is cool.

Once I clicked on the link, I found these are both R and Python notebooks, as well as F#. These allow you to essentially build a page of code and share it. It’s kind of like a REPL, kind of like a story. It’s a neat way of working through a problem. I clicked the Get Started link to get going and was prompted for a User ID.

2018-03-29 10_23_24-Custom Selection

Once I had my moniker setup, the next step was to edit my profile. That’s more important than a library, right?

2018-03-29 10_23_32-Custom Selection

Of course, I needed to fill out the profile with my avatar and some information.

2018-03-29 10_24_30-Microsoft Azure Notebooks

Next I need to create a library, which I’m guessing is a collection of notebooks. I clicked the link and had to enter a name. I decided on the classic HelloWorld name. I decided to keep this public, as I might want to share this with others.

2018-03-29 10_25_01-way0utwest - Microsoft Azure Notebooks

I’ve got a library, now let’s add something. I clicked the Readme.md, but it didn’t load. There was nothing there, as this is a blank file.

2018-03-29 10_25_34-HelloWorld_README.md (way0utwest) - Microsoft Azure Notebooks

I discovered I could right click the file in the list. This lets me edit it. Strange UX, but whatever. The file uses markdown as editing, which is fairly simple, but consists of a few characters to designate titles, lists, etc.

2018-03-29 10_27_08-HelloWorld (way0utwest) - Microsoft Azure Notebooks

I entered some text, and then my readme appeared below my notebook list, much like it goes on Github. My screenshot got taken after I’d experimented a bit, so you see a couple python notebooks as well.

2018-04-10 11_48_58-HelloWorld (way0utwest) - Microsoft Azure Notebooks

From there, I could add a notebook. I have choices. I started with Python, since that’s one of my learning goals.

2018-03-29 10_26_05-HelloWorld (way0utwest) - Microsoft Azure Notebooks

I give the notebook a name and create it.

2018-03-29 10_26_20-HelloWorld (way0utwest) - Microsoft Azure Notebooks

Once this is created, it appears as a Jupyter notebook. Essentially I have a repl-like command area, and once I enter code, I can click “Run” to execute it. You can see that my Hello, World program ran.

2018-03-29 10_26_45-Python Experiments

I can enter other code, and I’ve done a few things, just to practice some basics in Python. I’m working through some courses, and I’ll enter code in here to practice concepts.

2018-04-10 11_52_27-HelloWorld_Python Experiments.ipynb (way0utwest) - Microsoft Azure Notebooks

Jupyter notebooks are a good way of working through a problem and showing flow. They’re especially useful for sharing information with others and letting them follow your thought process.

Rate

You rated this post out of 5. Change rating

Share

Share

Rate

You rated this post out of 5. Change rating