Jupyter Notebook is a great teaching, exploration, and programming environment, but its limited functionality is well-known. Fortunately, there are many ways to improve this excellent tool, such as Jupyter Notebook extensions.
1. Autopep8
With just one click, you can get concise code We should all write code that conforms to the PEP8 standard, but sometimes we get caught up in analysis and find it hard to stick to this standard. So after you finish writing the code, just click on this option, and your code will become concise and beautiful.
This extension can be considered one of the best plugins, as it allows you to complete a time-consuming and tedious task with just a single click, enabling you to focus on your thoughts.
2. Variable Inspector
The variable inspector displays the names, types, sizes, shapes, and values of all the variables you have created in your notebook.
This tool is invaluable for data scientists who are transitioning from RStudio. It saves you from having to repeatedly print df.shape or recall x’s type, making it equally important for those who want to avoid such repetitive tasks.
3. ExecuteTime
The ExecuteTime plugin is a perfect solution for displaying the execution time of cells in Jupyter Notebook. It addresses the issue of not knowing how long a particular cell takes to run or when the last time a notebook was run, especially when the notebook has been open for multiple days. The ExecuteTime plugin displays the completion time and elapsed time for each cell, helping users to better understand the runtime of their code.
Conclusion:
Installing Jupyter Notebook extensions and taking the time to understand which ones are useful for you can significantly improve your workflow efficiency. While these features may not change your life, the benefits they bring are worthwhile. Moreover, Jupyter Notebook is still an essential part of the data science workflow, even if you prefer to use other IDEs like VS Code for production code. If you are using this environment, it’s best to make the most out of it and reap the maximum benefits from it.