flowchart LR
A[Write code] --> B(Source Code)
B --> C{Execute code}
C --> D[Output]
C --> E[Output]
C --> F[Output]
Avoid wrexecuting with Quarto
I run a shared server!
Jupyter causes lots of problems
What’s different about Jupyter?
- Most computer things differentiate between the editorial and executition environment
- Jupyter blends these two environments together
- This is part of the appeal of Jupyter, but causes a lot of problems
Problems
Unrecorded user actions
Your code can bork your editor
Integrations with other computer systems
Git!
“Can I get a quick code review please?”
Git!!
It shouldn’t take 11 years to get Git to work!
Most programs use a write-execute model
Many Jupyter users wreckecute
flowchart LR
A[Write code] --> B(Code/output)
B --> C{Run chunks}
C --> B
Write-execute notebooks
Rmarkdown took a different approach to notebooks
flowchart LR
A[Write .Rmd] --> B(Source document)
B --> C{Render}
C --> F(Pdf)
C --> G(html)
C --> H(Markdown)
This has a lot of advantages
- Most things work right away
- Git works
- Make works
- Composing notebooks works
- Packaging notebooks in libraries works
- Mixing languages works
- Can render to many output formats
Three big problems with Rmarkdown
- Starts with “R”
- Requires an R runtime
- Inconsistent user interface
Quarto to the rescue
- Fully language agnostic
- Better branding
- Unified, extensible interface
How does it work?
flowchart LR
B(.qmd document)
B --> C{Render}
C --> F(Markdown)
F --> G{Pandoc}
G --> H(Output format)
Code format
Here’s a heading
You can write markdown code and include inline code like this: 2
This is some source codeKey advantages
- Easy integrations
- Render to dozens of output formats
- Avoids unrecorded state
- Composable notebooks
- Excellent caching
- Fixes all of Joel Grus’ problems with Jupyter
Plays nicely with Jupyter
You don’t need to abandon Jupyter to start using quarto
quarto render Untitled.ipynbto render a Jupyter notebookquarto preview Untitled.ipynblive previews Jupyter Notebookquarto convert Untitled.ipynbconverts ipynb to qmdquarto convert Untitled.qmdconverts qmd to ipynb- Integrated into the nbdev suite of developer products
How to get started
- Free at https://quarto.org/
- Included with the latest releases of Rstudio
- Rstudio visual editor is the best
- VS Code extension also great
Write-execute rules
- Code is stored as a
.qmdformat - Share
.qmd+requirements.txtfiles with other programmers - Share output document with stakeholders
Questons?
- Contact me at https://shotwell.ca/
- Tweet @gshotwell
Avoid wrexecuting with Quarto