Add python steps to Github Workflow (#47)

[blms]

In this PR

Per #47:

• Slightly reorganize convertJSON.py to reorder imports, move color generation into its own section, and dynamically create the list of colors based on the number of authors
• Add python setup, pip packages installation, and convertJSON run to github workflow

[rsimon]

Looks great! Happy for this to be merged. If you want to tweak the GH Action, we could try this before merging. Otherwise we can also leave it for later.

[rsimon]

I wonder if it's possible to trigger the Python rebuild only if the CSV data changes? I have never done this (and my knowledge of Github Actions is fairly beginner level...) But perhaps this is something that could be achieved through the paths directive?

https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#example-including-paths

E.g. something like?

on:
  push:
    branches:    
      - main
    paths:
      - '*.csv'

[blms]

Good point! I think it's not possible using that syntax, since that only decides whether or not the workflow should be run. We could instead do something like this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/70711156/20382305

However, I think that's a bit complicated for something that wasn't requested directly by the client. But feel free to open an enhancement-tagged issue with that idea!

[rsimon]

Ah - good point. Yes, this looks like it's going to either run the action as a whole, or not at all. I wonder what happens if we were to create two separate actions: one for the Python data conversion, one for the GH pages build. But that would probably get too messy & we might end up debugging GitHub Action race conditions... I'd say let's leave it as is, and revisit if there's ever explicit client demand.