How to Set Up a Jupyter Notebook Development Environment in VS Code

Introduction

I have set up a Jupyter Notebook development environment in VSCode, so I am recording the steps here as a memo.
I hope this will be helpful for those who are going to set up a Jupyter Notebook development environment in the future.

Prerequisites

• VSCode must already be installed.

Requirements

1. VSCode (Visual Studio Code) - Please install it in advance.
2. Python - Download and install it.
3. Jupyter - Install it using pip.

Steps

1. Installing Python

If Python is not installed, please follow the steps below to install it.

Installation

Installing from the official Python website (Windows, macOS)

• Download and install the installation package from the official Python website. A Python version of 3.6 or later is recommended.
  
• Run the downloaded installer to install it.
• Make sure to check the "Add Python to PATH" checkbox during installation.

On Windows, you can also install it from the Microsoft Store.

Installing Python using Homebrew (macOS)

• Check if Homebrew is installed
  Open the terminal and run the following command to install Python.

  brew -v
  

  If it is installed, the version will be displayed.

  Homebrew 4.2.15
  

• If Homebrew is not installed, run the following command to install it

  /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"
  

• Install Python

  brew install python
  

Confirmation

• Verify if Python was installed correctly

  python --version
  

  or

  python3 --version
  

  If installed correctly, the version will be displayed.

  Python 3.12.3
  

  If the version is not displayed with python --version, please refer to the following article.

3. Installing VSCode Extensions

• Open VSCode and click the Extensions icon on the left side.
• Enter "Python" in the search bar and install the Python extension provided by Microsoft.

• Similarly, enter "Jupyter" and install the Jupyter extension as well.

4. Creating a Virtual Environment

By creating a virtual environment, you can manage different Python versions and packages for each project.

1. Create a directory (project directory) for the virtual environment.

   If it has already been created, please skip this step.

   mkdir -p ~/dev/project
   

2. Create the virtual environment.

   python3 -m venv ~/dev/project/venv
   

3. Activate the virtual environment.

   source ~/dev/project/venv/bin/activate
   

5. Installing Jupyter

Ensure that the virtual environment is activated and install Jupyter.

pip install jupyter

6. Opening Jupyter Notebook in VSCode

1. Open VSCode

   • Open the project directory in VSCode.

   code ~/dev/project
   

   Alternatively, open VSCode and then open the project directory.

2. Create a New Jupyter Notebook:

   • Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P).
   • Select "Jupyter: Create New Jupyter Notebook ".

3. Select the Kernel:

   • Click "Select Kernel" in the top right of the screen and select the virtual environment you created.
   • If the virtual environment is correctly recognized, venv will be displayed as shown below.

   

7. Verifying the Environment

• Enter the following code into a Notebook cell and try running it.

  print("Hello, Jupyter!")
  

• If it outputs correctly, the environment setup is complete.

Summary

I have introduced the steps for setting up a Jupyter Notebook development environment in VSCode.
By combining VSCode and Jupyter Notebook, you can develop in Python more efficiently.