Crash introduction for Visual Studio Code for a select few AIDS (KID) students at DTU with the aim of migrating them from using Spyder for AI/ML development.

This is an informal student to student introduction.

• Basic programming skills
• GitHub account
• Anaconda (the animal)
• Non-possessed computer
• Slightly above average brain

The following is preparatory work each participant needs to do before the live introduction.

If you encounter any issues, feel free to contact me.

1. Visit https://code.visualstudio.com/
2. Download and follow onscreen instructions
3. Enable option "Add to PATH"
4. ???
5. Profit - open VSCode

The following plugins are necessary for Python development.

Install by pressing ctrl+shift+x inside VSCode and apply brain.

• Anaconda Extension Pack

• Jupyter
• Pylance
• Visual Studio IntelliCode
• Live Share
• Bracket Pair Colorizer 2
• Python Indent

The following are notes for a live introduction which will be held at an agreed upon date by the participants.

The notes can later be used as a cheatsheet/reference material.

1. Open VSCode
   1. On Windows:
      1. Open Anaconda Prompt (not navigator)
      2. Run the command code
      3. Hint: Make a shortcut that does all this
   2. Linux/MacOS:
      1. Open VSCode normally
2. Open a folder/project with ctrl+k, ctrl+o (or File->Open Folder...)
3. Open file via
   • Search: ctrl+p
   • File panel: ctrl+shift+e

• View
  • New file: ctrl+n
  • New window: ctrl+shift+n
  • Switch tab: ctrl+tab and ctrl+shift+tab
  • Close/unclose tab: ctrl+w and ctrl+shift+t
  • File panel: ctrl+shift+e
  • Problems panel: ctrl+shift+m
  • Debug console: ctrl+shift+y
  • Split window right: ctrl+( or drag and drop tab
  • Split window down: ctrl+k, ctrl+( or drag and drop tab
• File
  • Save file: ctrl+s
  • Save all: ctrl+k, s
  • Find file: ctrl+p
  • Go to definition: F12 or ctrl+left click
  • Go to references: shift+F12
  • Go to symbol: ctrl+shift+o
  • Go to bracket: ctrl+shift+(
  • Go to line: ctrl+g
• Selection
  • Select line above/below: ctrl+shift+up and ctrl+shift+down
  • Select character left/right: shift+left and shift+right
  • Select word left/right: ctrl+shift+left and ctrl+shift+right
  • New cursor above/below: ctrl+shift+alt+down and ctrl+shift+alt+down
  • New cursor at click: alt+left mouse button
  • New cursor at next same word: ctrl+d
  • New cursor at occurrences of word: ctrl+shift+l
• Editing
  • Undo/Redo: ctrl+z and ctrl+shift+z
  • Move line(s): alt+up and alt+down
  • Duplicate line(s): alt+shift+up and alt+shift+down
  • Comment line(s): ctrl+'
  • Delete line(s): ctrl+shift+k
  • Rename variable: F2
  • Find: ctrl+f
  • Replace: ctrl+h
  • Indent/unindent line(s): tab and shift+tab
  • New line below/above: ctrl+enter and ctrl+shift+enter
• Multi-purpose
  • Do everything: ctrl+shift+p
  • Fix everything: ctrl+.
• Miscellaneous
  • Remember to run the correct file
  • Run: ctrl+F5
  • Snippets: tab, tab, tab...
  • Surround: Select text, press ', ", (, [, or {
  • Change case: Select text, ctrl+shift+p, transform to [...]
  • Word wrap: alt+z
  • Functions can be collapsed (hidden from view)

• Jupyter Notebooks supported
  • Ensure Python (conda) selected (top right)
  • F10 to run cell, line by line
  • New notebook: ctrl+shift+p, new notebook
  • Works like normal
• Interactive mode
  • Useful as playground for experimentation
  • Program state is stored - double edged sword
  • Create a cell: #%%
  • Run current cell: ctrl+enter
  • Execute command: shift+enter

• Buggy/complex program?
  1. Run with debug: F5, enter
  2. Pause program on one of
     • Error
     • Breakpoint
     • Next line
  3. Predict expected program state
  4. Find inconsistency with actual state
  5. Branch
     • If root cause found, deal with it
     • Else, go to step 2 and pause near cause of inconsistency
• Tools to examine state
  • Navigation
    • Stop/restart: shift+F5 and ctrl+shift+F5
    • Continue/pause: F5 and F6
    • Step in/out: F11 and shift+F11
    • Step over: F10
    • Line/inline breakpoint: F9 and shift+F9
      • Conditional: right click breakpoint, edit breakpoint...
  • State
    • Hover mouse on variable
    • Debug panel: ctrl+shift+d
      • Read/write variables
      • Watch expressions
      • (Call stack)/(stack trace)
        • "Map sequence" of which functions called each other
        • Scope of variables is different
        • Use to get context on issues
  • Manipulation
    • Debug console: ctrl+shift+y
      • Examine state
      • Change variables
      • Run functions
    • Interactive mode
      • Quick experimentation
        • Reproduce issue
        • Test potential fix
      • Access to data viewer
• Miscellaneous
  • Remember to run the correct file
  • Slower execution
    • Do not test speed of program in debug mode
    • Long experiments take even longer in debug mode
    • Concurrency related issues may not happen because it's slower

• Setup
  • Sign in with GitHub: ctrl+shift+p, live share sign in browser
  • Start read/write session (only with trusted people)
    • Share: ctrl+shift+p, live share start
    • Join: ctrl+shift+p, live share join or ctrl+alt+j
• Google Docs (Beta - Developer Edition)
  • Usually perfect, sometimes not
    • Changes may not propagate
    • Participants are not visible or do not move
    • Mangled console output
  • Fix: Restart Live Share session and VSCode
• Collaborative debugging
  • Follow mode
  • Highlighting
  • Only host can (should) interact with consoles (terminal, debug, interactive)
  • No more backseat programmers

• Task examples
  • Training models
  • Collecting experiment data
  • Ethereum mining
• Crash -> Loss of training progress or experiment data
• Fail-safe techniques
  • Redirect
    • Open Anaconda Prompt
    • Navigate to python file with cd "<path to folder>"
    • Run python file
      • Overwrite: python "<name of python file>.py" > "<name of output file>"
      • Append: python "<name of python file>.py" >> "<name of output file>"
  • In code
    • More complicated, more flexible
    • Use pickle module for serialization
    • Get file handles with open function.
• Caveats
  • Force buffer flush: print(some_text, flush=True)
  • Printing and file operations are slow

• Git panel: ctrl+shift+g
  • SCRUB, LEARN THE CONSOLE
• Core actions
  • Push
  • Pull
  • Add
  • Commit
  • Branch
  • Checkout
  • Merge
• Workflow
  1. Branch
  2. Work
  3. Commit
  4. Pull
  5. Push
• GitHub Student Developer Pack
  • https://education.github.com/pack
  • Connect your DTU email to GitHub