classroom-extensions 0.0.3

IPython extensions used for teaching

This project provides a set of IPython extensions used for teaching at the Ecole de Technologie Superieure (ETS) of Montreal. The extensions work on Google Colab, and Jupyter notebooks with some effort, and provide a set of magics (e.g., %%sql) while customizing existing ones (e.g., %%javascript) to enable lecturers and students to deploy software frameworks quickly and provide notes with working examples.

The notebooks directory contains a set of Google Colab notebooks demonstrating how to use the extensions.

Installing the Extensions

You can use pip to install the extensions:

pip3 install classroom-extensions

or:

pip3 install git+https://github.com/assuncaomarcos/classroom_extensions.git

Or clone this git repository and load the required extensions from the classroom_extensions package.

MariaDB Magics

Two extensions are available for MariaDB. One extension (mariadb) uses some components of the MariaDB Jupyter Kernel and creates a %%sql cell magic that enables code cells to accept SQL commands that an instance of MariaDB interprets. However, unlike the MariaDB Jupyter Kernel, this extension does not change the IPython kernel and its magics, enabling one to continue coding in Python, JavaScript, etc. To ease the creation of notebooks on Google Colab, a second extension (mariadb_install) installs MariaDB and the required libraries to run the first extension without worrying about setting things up.

Server-Side JavaScript

This extension, called node, customizes the %%javascript magic to enable executing JavaScript code on the server or container hosting the Jupyter Notebook or on Google Colab. Node.js executes the code provided in a cell whose –target argument receives the value node. It also enables starting long-running Node.js server processes that will listen on given ports without blocking the code cell of the notebook. In addition to executing JavaScript code on the server side, when run on the browser, the magic enables printing the output of the browser’s console in the result section of the code cell.

Custom HTML Magic

The html extension customizes the %%html magic. After rendering the HTML code inserted in the cell, the extension displays a high-level copy of the browser’s console. This behavior helps in teaching HTML or JavaScript that writes on the console.

PlantUML Magics

PlantUML is a textual domain-specific language (DSL) used for creating diagrams, primarily focused on software engineering and system design. It allows you to express diagrams using a simple and intuitive syntax, which PlantUML transforms into various types of visual diagrams, such as UML (Unified Modeling Language), sequence, class, activity, and more.

MongoDB Shell Magics

The IPython extension %%mongo enables seamless interaction with MongoDB using the mongosh CLI. By simply prefixing a cell with %%mongo, users can execute queries and commands against a MongoDB database directly within their IPython environment or Colab. The extension leverages the power of the mongosh CLI to provide a simple and familiar MongoDB Shell experience, allowing for data exploration, manipulation, and administration tasks.