7 ms·

Probably the longest time-to-knowing-what-the-hell-this-thing-actually-is I've ever seen on HN. Clicked on the link, clicked on a Github link, clicked to the Gi

by thom 11y ago

Probably the longest time-to-knowing-what-the-hell-this-thing-actually-is I've ever seen on HN. Clicked on the link, clicked on a Github link, clicked to the Github root, clicked on the link to the project's site, clicked on the first item in the table of contents, got a vague idea what it was. I feel grumpy and old. :(

tptacek 11y ago
"Jupyter is the extraction of the language-agnostic stuff from IPython; IPython is a really important web-based scientific computing environment."
kasbah 11y ago
> The IPython Notebook is now known as the Jupyter Notebook. It is an interactive computational environment, in which you can combine code execution, rich text, mathematics, plots and rich media. The best place to start is probably https://try.jupyter.org/ https://try.jupyter.org/
- rasz_pl 11y ago
  /opt/conda/lib/python3.4/site-packages/IPython/kernel/__init__.py:13: ShimWarning: The `IPython.kernel` package has been deprecated. You should import from ipykernel or jupyter_client instead. "You should import from ipykernel or jupyter_client instead.", ShimWarning)
nxzero 11y ago
I explain notebooks as just how-to's with embedded coded/graphics/data that are editable in realtime; possible that's just as vague, but notebook sounds like a plaintext editor to me; term comes from logs, kept in notebooks, used in science labs to note/reproduce prior work.
alyandon 11y ago
It's really annoying to get caught in a blog.domain.com subdomain without any obvious links back to the main domain.
- k2enemy 11y ago
  I agree that it is annoying to have the "home" or "main" link go to the blog home. But when you are at blog.domain.com, is it really that difficult for you to figure out how to get to domain.com?
  - Smirnoff 11y ago
    Yes, on mobile phone it might take a few tries just to alter that web address, especially when the domain name looks like sslmadomaiinnahas. Try remembering that. Navigating to the front part of the url to copy that domain is borderline impossible on tiny safari screen. Clearing the blog part or the part after domain/long-url-ending can also make you rip your hair out because your device might delete the entire url.
  - Finnucane 11y ago
    Is it that difficult for the site owner to add a simple link?
stonemetal 11y ago
Their landing page of their site isn't too bad the first thing you see is The Jupyter Notebook is a web application that allows you to create and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations and explanatory text. Uses include: data cleaning and transformation, numerical simulation, statistical modeling, machine learning and much more. Though I am not sure why their blog doesn't link to the landing page of the site.
anigbrowl 11y ago
I know. Open source folks, when you put a 'Home' button in the corner, make it go to the project home page, not the blog home page. If there's one thing I can't stand it's a blog post about an update for something that I don't know what it is, and my patience to click around trying to find out whether it is something I would be interested in or not is very limited. I'm glad I did in this case because an open-source equivalent of Mathematica is a pretty sweet tool, but the site navigation sucks enough that it's likely limiting your audience a bit.
- lambda 11y ago
  Every piece of software, in the release notes, should include a brief blurb about what the software is, and a link to get more information. And yes, the "home" button should go to the project home, not the blog home (or there should be a separate button for that).
- dandermotj 11y ago
  Just a heads up: Jupyter Notebook is not an open source alternative to Mathematica. Originally, Jupyter was iPython notebook, an IDE of sorts for data science and analysis in Python, by writing code and markdown together in a more coherent and integrated way. Then they incorporated a host of other popular open source languages for computational science such as R, Julia, F#, ect., so that we could use the best tools for their task, all in one document.
  - godzillabrennus 11y ago
    Great summary of Jupyter Notebook! I'll add that it's a great way to teach python to students. Notebooks can be shared and students basically retain all their legwork as they learn. It's very helpful for visually seeing code work if you are new.
  - IndianAstronaut 11y ago
    >all in one document. So it is possible to run both R and Python commands in the same notebook?
yoodenvranx 11y ago
Another thing which is often missing is a very clear "What's new in the latest version and when was it actually released" message on the homepage. Sometimes this very vital information is just impossible to find. (I am looking at you, http://matplotlib.org http://matplotlib.org)
eruditely 11y ago
It's something that allows you to embed code and text and execute said code and text, let me take a screenshot for you. Notice the latex integration in the second imgur link. One is for R code and one is for asymptote graphs, which are amazing! http://imgur.com/a/GdEAH http://imgur.com/a/GdEAH http://imgur.com/sEAl7zo http://imgur.com/sEAl7zo

by thom 11y ago

tptacek 11y ago

"Jupyter is the extraction of the language-agnostic stuff from IPython; IPython is a really important web-based scientific computing environment."

kasbah 11y ago

> The IPython Notebook is now known as the Jupyter Notebook. It is an interactive computational environment, in which you can combine code execution, rich text, mathematics, plots and rich media. The best place to start is probably https://try.jupyter.org/ https://try.jupyter.org/

rasz_pl 11y ago
/opt/conda/lib/python3.4/site-packages/IPython/kernel/__init__.py:13: ShimWarning: The `IPython.kernel` package has been deprecated. You should import from ipykernel or jupyter_client instead. "You should import from ipykernel or jupyter_client instead.", ShimWarning)

nxzero 11y ago

I explain notebooks as just how-to's with embedded coded/graphics/data that are editable in realtime; possible that's just as vague, but notebook sounds like a plaintext editor to me; term comes from logs, kept in notebooks, used in science labs to note/reproduce prior work.

alyandon 11y ago

It's really annoying to get caught in a blog.domain.com subdomain without any obvious links back to the main domain.

k2enemy 11y ago
I agree that it is annoying to have the "home" or "main" link go to the blog home. But when you are at blog.domain.com, is it really that difficult for you to figure out how to get to domain.com?
- Smirnoff 11y ago
  Yes, on mobile phone it might take a few tries just to alter that web address, especially when the domain name looks like sslmadomaiinnahas. Try remembering that. Navigating to the front part of the url to copy that domain is borderline impossible on tiny safari screen. Clearing the blog part or the part after domain/long-url-ending can also make you rip your hair out because your device might delete the entire url.
- Finnucane 11y ago
  Is it that difficult for the site owner to add a simple link?

stonemetal 11y ago

Their landing page of their site isn't too bad the first thing you see is The Jupyter Notebook is a web application that allows you to create and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations and explanatory text. Uses include: data cleaning and transformation, numerical simulation, statistical modeling, machine learning and much more. Though I am not sure why their blog doesn't link to the landing page of the site.

anigbrowl 11y ago

I know. Open source folks, when you put a 'Home' button in the corner, make it go to the project home page, not the blog home page. If there's one thing I can't stand it's a blog post about an update for something that I don't know what it is, and my patience to click around trying to find out whether it is something I would be interested in or not is very limited. I'm glad I did in this case because an open-source equivalent of Mathematica is a pretty sweet tool, but the site navigation sucks enough that it's likely limiting your audience a bit.

lambda 11y ago
Every piece of software, in the release notes, should include a brief blurb about what the software is, and a link to get more information. And yes, the "home" button should go to the project home, not the blog home (or there should be a separate button for that).
dandermotj 11y ago
Just a heads up: Jupyter Notebook is not an open source alternative to Mathematica. Originally, Jupyter was iPython notebook, an IDE of sorts for data science and analysis in Python, by writing code and markdown together in a more coherent and integrated way. Then they incorporated a host of other popular open source languages for computational science such as R, Julia, F#, ect., so that we could use the best tools for their task, all in one document.
- godzillabrennus 11y ago
  Great summary of Jupyter Notebook! I'll add that it's a great way to teach python to students. Notebooks can be shared and students basically retain all their legwork as they learn. It's very helpful for visually seeing code work if you are new.
- IndianAstronaut 11y ago
  >all in one document. So it is possible to run both R and Python commands in the same notebook?

yoodenvranx 11y ago

Another thing which is often missing is a very clear "What's new in the latest version and when was it actually released" message on the homepage. Sometimes this very vital information is just impossible to find. (I am looking at you, http://matplotlib.org http://matplotlib.org)

eruditely 11y ago

It's something that allows you to embed code and text and execute said code and text, let me take a screenshot for you. Notice the latex integration in the second imgur link. One is for R code and one is for asymptote graphs, which are amazing! http://imgur.com/a/GdEAH http://imgur.com/a/GdEAH http://imgur.com/sEAl7zo http://imgur.com/sEAl7zo