Use Conda envs in all CI jobs (#368)

## Description

<!-- Provide a brief description of the PR's purpose here. -->

We encountered an issue in #366 where different Python instances caused
swig to not be found. To prevent this and similar issues in the future,
this PR creates Conda envs to ensure that we always / are more likely to
use the correct version of Python.

## TODO

<!-- Notable points that this PR has either accomplished or will
accomplish. -->

## Questions

<!-- Any concerns or points of confusion? -->

- [x] Should we use Tox?
- For now, I believe Tox would introduce too much complexity. All we
want is to create a virtual env for each job. Tox may be able to do this
with less boilerplate, but we would also incur overhead to learn how to
use it properly. Conda envs also more closely match our audience of
researchers.
- Note that we did have Tox originally, but we removed it in #143 to
simplify our workflows.

## Status

- [x] I have read the guidelines in

[CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/icaros-usc/pyribs/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)
- [x] I have formatted my code using `yapf`
- [x] I have tested my code by running `pytest`
- [x] I have linted my code with `pylint`
- [x] I have added a one-line description of my change to the changelog
in
      `HISTORY.md`
- [x] This PR is ready to go

.github/workflows/testing.yml

@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@ on:
     branches:
       - master
 
+defaults:
+  run:
+    # The default shell must be set like this so that bash will source the
+    # profile, which contains settings initialized by Conda:
+    # https://github.com/marketplace/actions/setup-miniconda#important
+    shell: bash -el {0}
+
 jobs:
   pre-commit:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -19,9 +26,9 @@ jobs:
       SKIP: pylint
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2
         with:
-          python-version: 3.11
+          python-version: "3.11"
       - name: Install all deps and pylint (to be available to pre-commit)
         run: pip install .[all] pylint
       - uses: pre-commit/action@v3.0.0
@@ -42,12 +49,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2
         with:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
-      - name: Upgrade pip
-        run: python -m pip install --upgrade pip
       - name: Install core deps
         run: pip install .[dev]
       - name: Test core
@@ -57,12 +61,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Set up Python 3.8
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2
         with:
           python-version: "3.8"
-      - name: Upgrade pip
-        run: python -m pip install --upgrade pip
       - name: Install core deps
         run: pip install -r pinned_reqs/install.txt .[dev]
       - name: Test core
@@ -80,12 +81,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Set up Python 3.8
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2
         with:
           python-version: "3.8"
-      - name: Upgrade pip
-        run: python -m pip install --upgrade pip
       - name: Install deps
         run: pip install .[visualize,dev]
       - name: Test coverage
@@ -100,12 +98,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Set up Python 3.8
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2
         with:
           python-version: "3.8"
-      - name: Upgrade pip
-        run: python -m pip install --upgrade pip
       - name: Install deps
         run: pip install .[visualize,dev]
       - name: Run benchmarks
@@ -122,10 +117,8 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: 3.8
       - name: Install deps
-        shell: bash -el {0}
         run: pip install .[visualize]
       - name: Test Examples
-        shell: bash -el {0}
         run: bash tests/examples.sh
   tutorials:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -136,12 +129,9 @@ jobs:
         run: sudo apt-get remove swig
       # We use Python 3.10 instead of 3.8 here since Google Colab uses 3.10.
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Set up Python 3.10
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2
         with:
           python-version: "3.10"
-      - name: Upgrade pip
-        run: python -m pip install --upgrade pip
       - name: Install deps
         run: pip install .[visualize] jupyter nbconvert
       - name: Test Tutorials
@@ -150,12 +140,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Set up Python 3.8
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2
         with:
           python-version: "3.8"
-      - name: Upgrade pip
-        run: python -m pip install --upgrade pip
       - name: Install deps
         run: pip install .[visualize,dev]
       - name: Build docs
@@ -166,12 +153,9 @@ jobs:
     if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags')
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Set up Python 3.8
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2
         with:
           python-version: "3.8"
-      - name: Upgrade pip
-        run: python -m pip install --upgrade pip
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
           pip install -e .

HISTORY.md

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 - Refactor visualize module into multiple files ({pr}`357`)
 - Add GitHub link roles in documentation ({pr}`361`)
 - Refactor argument validation utilities ({pr}`365`)
+- Use Conda envs in all CI jobs ({pr}`368`)
 
 ## 0.5.2