rustpython notebook use case - post 1 of 2

[mireille-raad]

This is a background/motivation post. It talks about scientific computing in the browser, why that is important and the role of RustPython

I wanted to include code that solves for a real world problem, but the post would end up huge. So, I decided to split into two.

The start of the post includes a disclaimer that "opinions are my own" because the post is "opinionated" and I didn't want people to make assumptions about the whole team.

[coolreader18]

Looks great!

[coolreader18]

Suggested change

Imagine if we asked people to configure a server every time that they wanted to share a google doc. Imagine that every time you needed to open a document on your computer, you will need to install custom fonts with specific versions and then install and configure yet another version of a PDF reader. Opening old documents would most likely require you to rollback your changes. If anything breaks, your document won't work. On top of everything, all of this would require adminitrative access.

Imagine if we asked people to configure a server every time that they wanted to share a google doc. Imagine if every time you wanted to open a document on your computer, you needed to install custom fonts with specific versions and then install and configure yet another version of a PDF reader. Imagine if opening old documents would likely require you to roll back your changes, and if anything broke, your document wouldn't work. Then, on top of everything, all of this would require administrative access.

For this, you might want to use something more general than google doc, like 'pdf file' or 'document' or something and maybe use that same terminology for the whole paragraph. I think using google docs as an example might confuse things, since google docs require a central server but we don't.

Also, what specifically do you mean by "opening old documents would require you to rollback your changes"? Is that like using git for notebook files? Cause I think if you're making new documents by overwriting the same files, you'd be using git wrong :P. I don't really use jupyter, so I don't know how version control is for that

[youknowone]

This is an interesting point. I think Google docs and RustPython notebook work same way for the notebook users. Free and 24/7 opening central servers are not very far from browser-hosted platform for users unless network is not available.

But if this article starts with this:

The hope is that this post inspires you to contribute to RustPython.

It will be big difference for the contributors.

[mireille-raad]

I think this section could use some consistency. I do use a google doc in the sub-title, then switch to using a PDF example in the middle of the paragraph to illustrate a point about local configuration...

I meant to illustrate the example of a worry free and easy to share analogy, so I used google doc. Probably a GitHub repo used to host a static site is technically more accurate. I am not sure if it will resonate as much. I could find a way to mention both.

For rolling back changes, i meant to use an imaginary example case that highlights the redundancy or inefficiency of repeated work when you have to configure a version of a reader/python and fonts/libraries. I think I will take out the part about old document or write it more clearly.

[mireille-raad]

I don't think this post works. It feels dated and doesn't really work imho. Sorry for making you spend time reviewing it. Can I close it?

[youknowone]

@mireille-raad I am sorry for asking so late, but could you tell me which parts didn't work? It looked really awesome