Building a Grad School Pipeline

Grad School Pipeline

I’m taking my first class in ODU’s Data Science and Analytics program, and I’m trying to build good habits from the start. I want to make sure that I’m keeping my work organized and that I’m using version control. I also want to make sure that I’m using tools that will help me be more productive.

The Pipeline

I’m using GitHub Actions to build and deploy my homework assignments. I’m using Jupyter notebooks for my assignments, and I’m using GitHub Pages to host them. I’m also using GitHub Actions to convert my notebooks to PDF files and upload them to GitHub releases.

The Tools

I’m using the following tools:

Jupyter - For writing my assignments
GitHub Actions - For building and deploying my assignments
GitHub Pages - For hosting my assignments
GitHub Releases - For hosting my PDF files
nbconvert - For converting my notebooks to PDF files
LaTeX - For generating PDF files

The Process

Write my assignment in a Jupyter notebook
Commit and push to GitHub
GitHub Actions converts the notebook to PDF
GitHub Actions creates a release with the PDF file
GitHub Actions deploys the notebook to GitHub Pages

The Code

Here’s the GitHub Actions workflow that I’m using:

name: Build and Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          persist-credentials: false

      - name: Setup Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
        with:
          python-version: '3.8'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
          pip install jupyter nbconvert
          sudo apt-get install texlive-xetex texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-plain-generic

      - name: Convert notebooks to PDF
        run: |
          for file in *.ipynb; do
            jupyter nbconvert --to pdf "$file"
          done

      - name: Create Release
        id: create_release
        uses: actions/create-release@v1
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        with:
          tag_name: ${{ github.sha }}
          release_name: Release ${{ github.sha }}
          draft: false
          prerelease: false

      - name: Upload Release Asset
        uses: actions/upload-release-asset@v1
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        with:
          upload_url: ${{ steps.create_release.outputs.upload_url }}
          asset_path: ./homework1.pdf
          asset_name: homework1.pdf
          asset_content_type: application/pdf

      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        uses: JamesIves/[email protected]
        with:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          BRANCH: gh-pages
          FOLDER: .

The Results

I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. I’m able to write my assignments in Jupyter notebooks, and I’m able to keep them organized in GitHub. I’m also able to generate PDF files for my assignments, which is a requirement for my class. I’m also able to host my assignments on GitHub Pages, which makes it easy to share them with my professor and classmates.

Future Improvements

I’d like to add the following features: