Working on the assignments

For most assignments you will be modifying the “starter” Python code that will be provided as part of the files copied to the assignment repository when you accept the assignment. After you get the code working, you will have questions to answer by modifying the main assignment document.

In the following parts we well introduce to you how to:

1. Download materials from GitHub
2. Save your work / changes to GitHub
3. Write your answers

Using GitHub to download materials and to save your work

You should first download a copy to your computer where you plan to work on the assignment. The Computer Instance that we use in the course has a working installation of Anaconda. You can download a copy of the code by first clicking on the filename that you want to download:

Choose and click the file that you want to download.

From the following page right-clicking a button called Raw and clicking Save Link As... or the equivalent in your web browser. This will allow you to download a copy of the Python code to your computer with .py file extension.

Download the file by rigth-clicking the Raw button and clicking Save Link As ..

Important

When you download the data to your computer make sure that the file extension is .py. It seems that the browser wants to download the file with extension .txt by default. Hence, you need to replace the .txt extension with .py

Modifying the “starter” code in Spyder

Here are some suggestions for working with the “starter” code.

• Open Spyder. Since there is a working Anaconda installation on the computer instance, you will have the Spyder program. Spyder will make it easier to modify and test your Python code than using gedit and a separate IPython interpreter. In the computer instance, you can either launch Spyder by double clicking the Spyder icon on the desktop or typing in the terminal:

  $ spyder
  

  It may take a minute or two to open. In Windows you should have an application you can launch from the Start Menu, and on a Mac you can open the Anaconda Launcher on your Desktop and find Spyder there.

• Open the “starter” code in Spyder. Once you open Spyder you should see something like the window below.

Spyder

You can open your code in Spyder by going to File -> Open... in the menu bar. Select the code you downloaded and you’re ready to start editing. - Make changes and test. You can edit your Python code in Spyder just like a normal editor and make whatever changes you would like. After you have made some changes and would like to test them, save your file using File -> Save in the menu bar. Now you can have Spyder run your code by clicking on the green play button at the top of the window or by pressing the F5 key. Your code will run and the results (plots, printed text, errors, etc.) will be output to the IPython console on the bottom right panel. If you need more space to see the console, you can drag the margins on the console frame to make it bigger.

Committing your work to GitHub

After you have made some change to the code that you want to save, you should upload it to your assignment repository on GitHub.

You can do this by clicking on the Upload files button on the main page of the assignment repository and selecting the file you have been editing on your computer.

Upload files

Now you can drag and drop the file you want to upload to GitHub.

Drag and drop the file(s) you want to upload

When you upload the file, be sure to include a nice short commit message in the Commit changes box stating what you changed in the code since the last time you uploaded. To save the changes you click the Commit changes button.

Include a short message describing what you did when you commit.

Note

You are encouraged to upload your Python code every time you make a significant change, such as fixing one of the problems in the starter code.

Important

Note that you DON’T need to change the name of the file you are committing even if one would already exist in the repository. One of the main advantage of version control is that you keep on working under the same file and commit it regularly to GitHub. In this way Git will be able to track the changes that you have made to the file and you can see the full history of that file if you want to.

Answering the questions

In your assignment repository you have a document titled README.md that contains the instructions for the assignment. This document is what is displayed by default in GitHub when you view the main page of a repository, and it is written in a simple language called Markdown. Markdown allows you to write text in a normal text editor or on a web page and then have that text converted from plain text to a nicely formatted document using simple formatting styles. We would like for you to enter your answers to the questions in the assignment in the README.md document, as well as embedding any plot figures. To edit your README.md file, you can do the following:

1. Open the README.md for editing. Click on the README.md in the list of files in the assignment repository, and then click on the pencil icon in the toolbar above the README.md to edit the document. The toolbar should look like the image below.

Editing toolbar

2. Make your changes. After you click on the pencil icon you will see the Markdown version of the assignment document, and this is what you should edit. At the bottom of the README.md you will find a section that starts with # Answers. This is the section you should edit to add answers and plots for the assignment problems. Adding italics and bold text is easy, and if you would like more information on formatting you should take a look at the Github page on Github-flavored Markdown.

3. Preview your changes. After you have made your changes, it is a good idea to click on Preview changes to make sure the changes you have made are formatted the way you expect. Markdown is pretty easy to use, but sometimes things don’t end up looking the way you might like. Preview changes is in the editing bar above the document text, as shown below.

Preview changes

4. Save your changes. After you are done editing, you can save your changes by adding a commit message and clicking on the Commit changes button. As above, it is a good idea to make a short note of what you changed when you make changes in the Commit changes box.

5. Check out the “pro” tips. Below you will find some tips for using GitHub that will help you produce nicer looking plots and Markdown files, and to get the most out of using a resource like GitHub.

Pro tips

Below is a short list of tips that might help you in preparing your answers for the assignments.

• Save your stuff often! You are strongly encouraged to commit (save) your changes regularly. For instance, each time you fix one of the issues in the “starter” Python code, you should upload a new copy and commit the changes with a short commit message. It might seem like extra work, but you can always go back to earlier versions of what you have saved on GitHub, so making frequent saves will ensure that you can find an older, working version of code in the event that you accidentally delete part of the code or otherwise break things.
• You can always go back. One of the best things about using GitHub is that you are able to go back to previous versions of the documents you save. For instance, if you decide to remove a section from your Python code and later realize this was a huge mistake, you will be able to go back to earlier versions of the Python code that have been saved in GitHub. To go back to an earlier version simply click on the History button for one of the files in your GitHub repository, as shown below.

History button

Once you pull up the document history you can click on the hash (the set of 7 numbers/letters listed to the right of a given version) to see the changes made for that save, or click on the <> button to see the version of the file at that time in the past.

• If you want to put you images into your answers document (README.md), I encourage you to upload copies of the images to the Images directory and then embed them using the Markdown format for images:

  ![Text in case image does not display](Images/filename.png)
  

  You start with an !, put some simple text (2-4 words) about the image between square brackets [], and then add a link to the image between parentheses (). Check out the example for Exercise 2 if this is unclear.

• Use good quality images. By default, Spyder will display your images in the IPython console window, and the image quality is just OK. If you would like to make nicer images to include in your answers to the problems, you can run you Python code outside of Spyder by typing

  ipython your-script.py
  

  If your code is working, this should result in your plot popping up in a separate window and when you save the plot it will be at a higher resolution than the equivalent in the IPython console in Spyder. It is always nice to produce the best looking plots you can!