Thrilled to discover nbdev from & . It's an attempt to solve a big problem with computational notebooks like Jupyter: you explore problems with a notebook, but usually need to "switch" to a more powerful tool for "real" impls:
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nbdev tries to solve this problem by giving you
- automatically turning notebooks into publishable Python modules
- bidirectional sync with plaintext .py for IDE usage
- fixes for other "real" project needs: tests, continuous integration, documentation export, conflict resolution
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While nbdev seems focused on helping individual developers avoid the "switch" when implementing their own projects, I think layers like this could help solve a big problem with "executable books": the huge barrier for *readers* to build on embedded code to do anything real.
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The fast.ai docs get at something pretty exciting, then. Like many notebooks, it contains narrative content which explains computational material and lets readers explore. But the executable book is *also* the implementation of a published production-level library
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The narrative in those docs is a bit limited: it's more documentation than prose. "Deep Learning for Coders" is the expository text from the same authors, but it isn't made available in an executable context AFAICT. I think that could be really powerful!
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(For more on these themes and on dreams of executable books, see numinous.productions/ttft/#executab)
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My wishlist for exec. books:
– author did their "real thinking" in the authoring computational environment
– reading environment invites + supports meaningful experimentation/exploration
– book elements transparently and usefully reusable by author and readers in derivative works
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Update: I was wrong; "Deep Learning for Coders" is in fact available in notebook format! Most excellent!
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Replying to @andy_matuschak
The book is in fact available in executable format, for free! :D
github.com/fastai/fastbook
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I liked how pluto.jl fixes some of the biggest problems with notebooks: github.com/fonsp/Pluto.jl
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Imagine if creating a derivative work was as easy as importing one notebook from another, or even importing it into normal non-notebook code... ;)
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I didn't realize the latter was supported from RunKit—very cool! Are you aware of any serious "executable books" published using RunKit?
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I believe used to figure out a few of the examples as he was authoring his print book
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