New to notebooks? Follow the numbered steps in Your first lab (Colab, then Binder, then a local install). This page is the full comparison of the three launch paths.
These living notes keep every assessed notebook in the GitHub repository. You can run them in three ways. Use them in this order of trust:
Local install — canonical (always works once the repo is cloned)
Binder — primary online launch (temporary JupyterLab from this repo)
Google Colab — secondary convenience (personal copy in Google’s cloud)
Binder and Colab need a public GitHub repository. Until albert8943/SciML_PS is public, use local install only. Session edits in Binder or Colab do not write back to GitHub; to improve the book, open a pull request (Contribute).
1. Local install (canonical)¶
Best for assessed work and for decades of reproducible teaching.
git clone https://github.com/albert8943/SciML_PS.git
cd SciML_PS
conda env create -f environment.yml
conda activate sciml_ps
pip install -e .Then open the lab notebook (for example book/900_labs/lab_01_reference_sim/lab01_reference_sim.ipynb) with Jupyter.
To preview the book site locally (HTML), see Preview this book locally. That author path also uses environment.yml and needs Node.js for Jupyter Book 2.
Optional network / ANDES path (Lab 5 extension only): use envs/course_andes.yml on your machine — not Binder.
2. Binder (primary online)¶
Opens a temporary JupyterLab built from this repository. Your edits live only for that session.
First launch after a change can take several minutes while Binder builds the image.
Uses the lean student env under
binder/(not the author Jupyter Book stack).Does not include ANDES.
Example — Lab 1:
Lab pages that already ship a notebook also carry a Binder badge under Materials.
3. Google Colab (secondary)¶
Opens a personal copy of the notebook on Google’s servers. Convenient for a quick try; still not a substitute for local install on assessed work.
Example — Lab 1:
Run the notebook’s first setup cell so sciml_ps installs from GitHub when needed.
Which labs?¶
| Lab | Local | Binder / Colab |
|---|---|---|
| Lab 1 | Yes | Yes (badges on the lab page) |
| Lab 3 | Yes | Yes |
| Labs 2 and 4 | When notebooks arrive | Same — badges arrive with the notebook |
| Lab 5 SMIB path | Yes when the SMIB notebook ships | Planned with that notebook |
| Lab 5 ANDES network extension | Local only (course_andes) | Not on Binder / Colab |
Invite collaboration¶
If Binder builds fail, Colab install cells break, or you want to add launch badges for a new notebook, please Join and contribute. Improving these launch paths is a welcome contribution to this public preview.