Setting up Jupyter notebook on VS Code

My experience with Python is quite minimal, I've never really had much need to do anything except tinker around with it.

I've previously setup a python jupyter notebook Docker container at work, it grabbed some data, applied some transformations and saved the output elsewhere, just as an example

I wanted to create a pipeline that's used in an application, it's nothing difficult but I think it's a good first project. The general idea is:

• Grab data from somewhere
• Transform it into something useful
• Save it somewhere accessible to my webpage
• Use a charting library for visual snazzyness

I've never really been a python dev but as an experienced developer, I was quietly confident I could achieve it. Originally, I was a PHP dev and now I do some Javascript/React because doesn't everyone?

It's worth mentioning that I'm breaking a lifetime of hard opinions on which Operating System to work on - For leisure I use Windows (best for gaming) and I have always used Linux for programming/work, generally I dual boot.

I have however, gotten into WSL2 - Windows Subsystem for Linux and I have to say, it's really good - I get all the linux power but with the simplicity of a Windows interface.

So, here's the steps I took to setup my Jupyter notebook on Windows WSL2 and VS Code.

• First, you need to install WSL2 if you haven't already - there's plenty of great articles out there.
• Next, install python3, pip in WSL2
• Then, install Jupyter in pip
• Run Jupyter from the command line
• Install the VS Code extension for Python/Jupyter
• Connect VS Code to Jupyter - using the token url in terminal