VSCodeOnlineExample

Example CodeSpaces/GitPod Environment

Problem

Teaching Computing is difficult in schools because the computers are often managed machines. Young people are not allowed to install new software or libraries. This makes education difficult.

Solution

• Use a remote development environment
• Cloud/Browser based professional development environment (VisualStudioCode) for free with a GitHub login
  • (50 Hours free use every 30 days)
• Students can install packages and run command line applications
• The state of workspace is from a GitHub repo
  • This allows a teacher to setup pre prepared resources

Use

• Cloud VSCode IDE
  • GitHub CodeSpaces
    • 
      • https://codespaces.new/USERNAME/REPO?quickstart=1
    • Manage: https://github.com/codespaces/
    • Shutdown: gh cs stop
    • Delete: gh cs delete
    • Advanced Config (Startup): .devcontainer/devcontainer.json
    • Issues:
      • Ports need to be set to public manually (this can't be automated and is tedious)
        • Allow for ports to be public by default #4068
        • gh codespace ports visibility 8000:public -c $CODESPACE_NAME
  • GitPod
    • 
      • https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/USERNAME/REPO
    • Manage: https://gitpod.io/workspaces
    • Shutdown: gp stop
    • Delete: gp ???
    • Advanced Config (Startup): .gitpod.yml
    • Issues:
      • git push wont work until permissions are set
        • GitPod: granting-additional-github-oauth-permissions
          • public_repo, repo and workflow
• Remember to stop your workspace manually to save hours

Demo

• This GitPod workspace example is deliberately bare-bones
• I want students/teachers to
  • manually install packages
  • manually running the web-server
    • This is a transferable concept/skill
  • These can be added to be performed automatically to if desired for younger students

Example: Plotly

pip install plotly
python3 plotly_demo.py
python3 -m http.server
# view `basic-line.html`

Exanple: Pillow

curl  -A "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:59.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/59.0" -O "https://shadedrelief.com/natural3/ne3_data/8192/elev_bump_8k.jpg"
pip install pillow
python3 elavation.py
# view `elevation_uk.png` output

Future Ideas

• Login is difficult for children - SSO could solve this?
• GitHub Campus might be free for schools?