enhance CONTRIBUTING.md and update docs

.gitignore

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ docs/Gemfile.lock
 sphinx/_build/
 sphinx/_static/
 sphinx/demo_rst/
-sphinx/readme_rst/
+sphinx/md_rst/
 sphinx/uml/
 node_modules/*
 

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Join team communications by reaching out to us at [qmc-software@googlegroups.com
 
 ## Installation 
 
-In a git enabled terminal (e.g. [bash](https://gitforwindows.org/) for Windows) with [conda](https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html) installed and C compilers enabled (Windows users may want to install [Cygwin](https://www.cygwin.com) or [MinGW](https://www.mingw-w64.org) and may find this [tutorial from Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/cpp) helpful), run
+In a git enabled terminal (e.g. [bash](https://gitforwindows.org/) for Windows) with [miniconda](https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html) installed and C compilers enabled (Windows users may need to install [Microsoft C++ Build Tools](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/visual-cpp-build-tools/)), run
 
 ~~~
 git clone https://github.com/QMCSoftware/QMCSoftware.git
@@ -24,16 +24,57 @@ pip install -e .
 
 Doctests and unittests take a few minute to run with
 
+~~~
+make tests_no_docker
+~~~
+
+Optionally, you may install [Docker](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/) and then run all tests with 
+
 ~~~
 make tests
 ~~~
 
-After installing [Pandoc](https://pandoc.org/installing.html) and [$\LaTeX$](https://www.latex-project.org/get/), documentation may be compiled into your preferred format with
+After installing [Pandoc](https://pandoc.org/installing.html) and [LaTeX](https://www.latex-project.org/get/), documentation may be compiled into your preferred format with
 
 ```
 doc_html
 doc_pdf
 doc_epub
 ```
 
-See the `makefile` for more commands and the [developers page](https://qmcpy.org/references-for-python-and-mathematical-software-development/) on [qmcpy.org](https://qmcpy.org) for more tools
+Demos may be run by opening [Jupyter](https://jupyter.org/) using
+
+~~~
+jupyter notebook
+~~~ 
+
+and then navigating to the desired file in the `demo/` directory. Some of our developers prefer [JupyterLab](https://jupyter.org/), which may be installed with
+
+~~~
+pip install jupyterlab
+~~~ 
+
+and then run with
+
+~~~
+jupyter-lab
+~~~
+
+The [Developers Tools](https://qmcpy.org/references-for-python-and-mathematical-software-development/) page on [qmcpy.org](https://qmcpy.org) documents additional tools we have found helpful for mathematical software development and presentation. 
+
+## Visual Studio Code Tips and Tricks
+
+[VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com) is the IDE of choice for many of our developers. Here we compile some helpful notes regarding additional setup for VSCode. 
+
+- Run `CMD`+`p` then `> Python: Select Interpreter` then select the `('qmcpy')` choice from the dropdown to link the qmcpy environment into your workspace. Now when you open a terminal, your command line should read `(qmcpy) username@...` which indicates the qmcpy environment has been automatically activated. Also, when debugging the qmcpy environment will be automatically used. 
+- Go to `File` and click `Save Workspace as...` to save a qmcpy workspace for future development.
+
+### Useful Extensions
+- Python
+- Jupyter
+- Markdown Preview Enhanced
+- eps-preview, which requires
+    - Postscript Language
+    - pdf2svg
+- Git Graph
+- Code Spell Checker

makefile

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #   -C for sphix-build will not look for conf.py
 #   -b for sphinx-build will look for conf.py
 
-mddir = sphinx/readme_rst/
+mddir = sphinx/md_rst/
 nbdir = sphinx/demo_rst/
 umldir = sphinx/uml/
 nbconvertcmd = jupyter nbconvert --to rst --output-dir='$(nbdir)'
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ _doc: # gets run by sphinx/conf.py so we don't need to commit files in $(mddir)
 	@grep -v  "\[\!" README.md > README2.md
 	@pandoc --mathjax README2.md -o $(mddir)QMCSoftware.rst
 	@rm README2.md
+	# CONTRIBUTING --> RST
+	@pandoc --mathjax CONTRIBUTING.md -o $(mddir)CONTRIBUTING.rst
 	# Jupyter Notebook Demos --> RST
 	@mkdir $(nbdir)
 	@for f in demos/*.ipynb; do \

sphinx/contributing.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+Contributing to QMCSoftware
+===========================
+
+.. toctree::
+    :maxdepth: 2
+
+    md_rst/CONTRIBUTING.rst

sphinx/index.rst

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ QMCPy Documentation
 
 
    readme
+   contributing
    license
    algorithms
    demos

sphinx/readme.rst

@@ -4,4 +4,4 @@ About Our QMC Software Community
 .. toctree::
     :maxdepth: 2
 
-    readme_rst/QMCSoftware.rst
+    md_rst/QMCSoftware.rst