VSCode on Google Colab

shp0ngle 5 years ago |

Note that this is not "actual" VSCode, but its fork code-server, that takes VSCode and modifies it to run in a browser.

This package just installs code-server on Google Colab, whatever that is.

Hosted VSCode instances that Microsoft has on Azure and in beta on GitHub are a different thing and are not open source.

echelon 5 years ago | |

> Hosted VSCode instances that Microsoft has on Azure and in beta on GitHub are a different thing and are not open source.

I can see it now: one day all of our engineering work will happen exclusively in the cloud and we'll all be using thin clients.

Just like smart phones, the typical desktop or laptop will become a dumb device. A Chromebook, but worse.

Subscribe to your tools, for the low monthly cost of only... And wait, there's more. You can upgrade your storage and execution time package.

Augh.

nwienert 5 years ago | | |

Yep. And Google Colab is a Trojan horse. Give away free GPUs for a few years to choke out any competition, guaranteed they start charging for them once they’ve done that.

farisjarrah 5 years ago | | |

I like seeing arguments like these and then I go and see people do stuff like this where people get Debian running on Kindles:

https://github.com/kathamer/DebianKindle

Whenever there is locked down hardware, invariably there is always someone trying to hack it.

candiodari 5 years ago | | |

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html

craftinator 5 years ago | |

> This package just installs code-server on Google Colab, whatever that is.

I laughed way too hard at this, because I have thoughts like this bounce around my head nearly every time I read about a Google product. It reminds me of Microsoft circa ~2006, when they were doing all kinds of wacky and ill-defined projects that turned into pure bloatware.

sigwinch28 5 years ago | | |

I have just started using Google Apps as an employee which uses it for everything

Me: "oooh! Google Currents! That sounds cool. Is it some workflow designer tool?"

Me: "oh, it's Google Plus."

shp0ngle 5 years ago | | |

It sounded more disparaging than I meant it

I just have no idea what is Google Colab, I don't do Python/TensorFlow/jupyter, I don't know what "notebook" means in this context.

mbreese 5 years ago | |

> code-server, that takes VSCode and modifies it to run in a browser

Not only that, but it's also only the open-source parts of VSCode. Notably, you don't get access to the same extensions marketplace. Code-server does link to many open-source extensions, but certain things (e.g. Intellisense) aren't available.

tmabraham 5 years ago |

This uses Abhishek Thakur's great package on GitHub here: https://github.com/abhishekkrthakur/colabcode

Video example by Abhishek: https://youtu.be/7kTbM3D02jU

abhisvnit 5 years ago | |

The video tutorial and eventually the package was inspired by the blog post and the tweet. :) (also mentioned in the video)

square_usual 5 years ago |

That's interesting, but do the Google Colab Terms of Service allow this? The article goes into how, but not if you're allowed to. Until you're certain it is allowed, I would suggest not using it. You don't want to be locked out of your (at best) colab or (at worst) Google account because you wanted a fancy IDE.

nexuist 5 years ago | |

I think in general you can run arbitrary code on Colab. That's the entire point. Your CPU and RAM usage are monitored and rate limited; you have to pay $$$ for more powerful specs and at that point if you're paying them I doubt they care what you're doing with what you paid for.

srtjstjsj 5 years ago | |

Why would this one specific library be banned from colab?

syntaxing 5 years ago |

If everyone is uncomfortable with using an "online IDE", you can accomplish the same thing with ngrok + vscode remote ssh [1].

[1] https://imadelhanafi.com/posts/google_colal_server/

qmmmur 5 years ago |

Gave it a try. Font's rendered incorrectly and were unusable which is an obvious deal breaker when you're trying to Code in a seriffed fallback. It was really slow which is my entire experience of all Jupyter/Collab notebook style approaches to coding. I really don't see what anyone else sees in this. If you want to collaborate with people just learn some tried and tested tools that are open and work.

johnisgood 5 years ago |

> modifies it to run in a browser.

The future is truly horrifying. I do not want to run my text editor in my browser. Soon our text editors will be hosted by Google or something, and we will edit files with them online. Ugh. Imagine requiring Internet connection and a browser just to edit a file on your computer! I know I am exaggerating a bit, but jeez, this direction sucks.

wffurr 5 years ago | |

Too late? That's essentially what Vscode, the most popular text editor for programmers, does.

Nothing stopping you from continuing to use vim, emacs, sublime, etc though.

johnisgood 5 years ago | | |

Yeah, I am sure the workplace will be perverted first.

wffurr 5 years ago | | |

wat

If you don't like it, don't use it. No one is forcing you.

wvenable 5 years ago | |

Browsers don't have access to local files so this isn't about editing a file on your computer.

VS Code runs on electron so it is already an editor running in a browser locally without an Internet connection required.

johnisgood 5 years ago | | |

> Browsers don't have access to local files

What do you mean by that? Mine does. Although I firejail it.

> VS Code runs on electron so it is already an editor running in a browser

I am sure we can push it further than that. :)

wvenable 5 years ago | | |

Web applications don't have access to local files -- at least not in the open/edit/save editor scenario.

johnisgood 5 years ago | | |

I am not up to date with it, to be honest. I know there is a WebUSB API and whatnot. Having access to files might not be that far-fetched.

wvenable 5 years ago | | |

I have a robot who's firmware can be updated via bluetooth from a web application running in Chrome -- so I get your point. Oddly enough, arbitrary access to files are still off limits.

ericcumbee 5 years ago | |

Try playing solitaire on windows 10 with out a internet connection.

amrrs 5 years ago |

If you don't want to use any package, it's just a few lines of code that you can run at the top of your Colab - https://youtu.be/ATif5s5peHU

quyleanh 5 years ago |

Cool. Another online IDE for developer.

I used theia-ide of openshift.io. It's good as well but sometimes the browser tab was freeze and I had to reload. A bit annoy. An other choice is Google Cloudshell.

Mo3 5 years ago | |

Not just another IDE, my friend. VS Code is truly fantastic.

dspillett 5 years ago | | |

As there are already other projects using vscode to produce an online IDE, I think "just another" is quite fair.

pjmlp 5 years ago | | |

Ironically given that VSCode was born as online IDE to start with.

dspillett 5 years ago | | |

Certainly the base editor did, but was it crossed over the (vague and subjectively defined) line between an advanced text editor to a full IDE by the point MS forked/integrated it for VS Code? My history is hazy here.

pjmlp 5 years ago | | |

Monaco was not not the basis for VSCode, still exists as basis for Github codespaces and Azure based devenvs.

brutuscat 5 years ago |

I wonder how this is different from Eclipse Che? http://www.eclipse.org/che/

ctl0 5 years ago |

Brilliant but it seems to me every colab hack requires ngrok or something similar to relay the traffic, which it's sadly just too slow.

zb1plus 5 years ago |

Super cool but I'm curious if anybody has figured out how to use the VSCode Juypter notebook integration with Google Colab?

bugmen0t 5 years ago |

> Now, we will start the VSCode server in the background at port 9000 without any authentication using the following command.

Great.

xrisk 5 years ago |

Why not just use a service like repl.it? Is it just so you can use VSCode?

elcomet 5 years ago | |

On colab you get free gpus.

kristianpaul 5 years ago | | |

Good point, i was about to suggest google shell ass but colab is more resourcefull

busymichael 5 years ago | |

I have just started playing with repl.it and am enjoying it. repl.it is using a similar IDE to the VSCode fork from the OP.

I am trying to build a small web app using repl.it as my dev environment and deploy on google app engine. The stack is flask/mysql/html5/bootstrap.

I have a workflow where I can commit to a dev branch inside repl.it, push to github and them merge to master. If merge is no-conflict, it uses github actions to deploy to google app engine.

There are trade offs, but I am really enjoying the ability to just start coding by opening a browser and having my full dev environment in a tab. Really fun!

leetrout 5 years ago | |

repl.it has always been slow for me for anything beyond a single file with a handful of changes.

neves 5 years ago |

Is there similar options to run it in a Zeppelin Notebook?

babuskov 5 years ago |

I'm curious. I know it's great for one-offs, but is anyone actually using VSCode as their main tool when so many native IDEs and text editors are available?

I would love to know what's your use case. Maybe I'm missing something big.

nexuist 5 years ago | |

I use it for every project. I mainly code node.js and sometimes Python.

Speed has never been an issue for me; VSCode boots up in under a second and easily chews through thousands of lines of code (albeit without tokenization).

The new SSH connection mode has been a lifesaver for me - you can now sync VSCode with a server you have SSH access to, meaning you can browse/open/save files remotely, and open as many terminals as you want on the target server. This makes it super easy to e.g. test code on different hardware or view logs or edit config files and such.