Advancing Pyodide interoperability and interactive documentation for Scientific Python projects

Agriya Khetarpal, 20312915002

University of Delhi
Software Engineer I, Quansight Labs

Mentored by Dr Ralf Gommers

Co-Director, Quansight Labs

The why

• Python projects and their environments are tricky to install and manage
• For maintainers and core developers: difficult to target various platforms and architectures
• Slightly steep learning curve a euphemism for "learn it yourself like we all did"
• Lower barrier to entry to learning Python, especially for new programmers

XKCD 1987

The why

• Documentation for scientific software needs to do more
• Some guidelines
  • Explanatory (descriptive)
  • Illustrative (graphs, diagrams, visual aids, and more)
  • Interactive (a boost to user experience)

https://diataxis.fr/

Run NumPy online

The why

• In come Pyodide and WebAssembly
  • Python compiled via the Emscripten toolchain using LLVM to run in the browser
  • A paradigm shift towards code that is written once, and runs everywhere
    • Chromium (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave Browser, etc.), Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and even inside browsers on Android and iOS (and iPadOS too)!
  • JupyterLite provides a runtime just like standard Jupyter Notebooks

https://scikit-learn.org/stable/auto_examples/cluster/plot_color_quantization.html#sphx-glr-auto-examples-cluster-plot-color-quantization-py

The NumPy docs are now interactive

The what (do I do) and the where (do I come into the picture)

• Visiting Scientific Python projects one-by-one to establish CI/CD pipelines for Pyodide support, end-to-end, across their entire test suite

  • Packaged and uploaded to a custom Anaconda index for use in interactive documentation

  • Technical writing and documentation infrastructure to bring interactivity

and so on!

statsmodels

✅

SciPy

Planned

The what (do I do) and the where (do I come into the picture)

• Interactive documentation via JupyterLite
• Run all examples online
  • Uses your own browser and memory to execute the code
  • Minimises security concerns
  • Flair of dynamic content to otherwise a static website
• Feature improvements to jupyterlite-sphinx
• Accessibility improvements

Ancillary accolades

• Named in PyWavelets v1.6.0 release

  • https://zenodo.org/records/10904326

• Around the globe, named among
  • one of the 193 contributors to SciPy v1.13.0, and
  • one of the 96 contributors to NumPy v2.0.0
• Joined the Pyodide organisation on GitHub 

Footnotes

• I consider it a privilege to be able to get to work on open-source software, and then get paid for it during the process
• My work is being supported by a generous, collaborative Chan Zuckerberg Initiative grant CZI 2022-316713 towards Scientific Python

Thank you for your time 

Special thanks to

Ralf Gommers

Co-Director, Quansight Labs

Pavithra Eswaramoorthy

Developer Advocate, Quansight