Homework 0: CRCD JupyterHub setup

Due 2025-09-05, 11:59pm. Instructions last updated 2025-09-01.

This assignment is simply for you to get set up with the running Jupyter notebooks on the CRCD JupyterHub. We will use JupyterHub for in-class coding activities. Please follow the instructions exactly as listed. I’m interested in seeing if students can successfully load JupyterHub with the custom class conda environment; please don’t submit screenshots using pip to install packages in the base environment.

Instructions

  1. Log in to the CRCD JupyterHub at jupyter.crc.pitt.edu with your Pitt credentials. Type your username in lowercase and make sure that you are on the WIRELESS-PITTNET wifi network. If you are off-campus or not on WIRELESS-PITTNET, you will need to log in to the Pitt VPN through the GlobalProtect app. Instructions for setting that up are here. Reach out to Michael if you are not able to log in.
  2. Select the following JupyterHub Session Configuration options:
    • Select Partition: TEACH - 6 CPUs - 45GB
    • Select Virtual Environment: Provide custom path
    • Custom Environment Path: /ix/cs2731_2025f/class_env. Note that this is different from what we did in class.
    • Account: you can leave this blank
      If you can’t spawn a server at this point, try setting Account to cs2731_2025f. Also make sure you have enough space in your CRCD home directory. Check your usage by using ssh to log in to h2p.crc.pitt.edu and running crc-quota.
  3. Click the following nbgitpuller link. This should load the latest version of session2_preprocessing.ipynb, which starts with a section header of Import necessary packages and should look like this. If it starts with Install nltk or anything else, close the notebook and right-click the notebook filename on the side panel to delete it. Click the nbgitpuller link again to load the latest version.
  4. Double-click session2_preprocessing.ipynb on the left-hand side panel to open the Jupyter notebook.
  5. Run the cells under the Import necessary packages section. That is all you have to do. You do not have to run the rest of the notebook.
  6. Take a screenshot of the notebook (only the output of the first section is necessary) and submit it on Canvas. Ideally you are able to import pandas and nltk, but even if there are errors, that’s okay! You will still get credit for the assignment, and I will message you on Canvas to try to figure any issues out.