Jupyter Notebooks and ML Workflows
Notebook Environments
Options
| Platform | Best For | GPU | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Colab | Quick experiments | T4/A100 | Free tier available |
| Kaggle Notebooks | Competitions, datasets | T4x2/P100 | Free (30h/week) |
| JupyterLab | Local development | Your GPU | Free |
| SageMaker Studio | AWS integration | Various | Pay-per-use |
| Vertex AI Workbench | GCP integration | Various | Pay-per-use |
| Databricks | Enterprise, Spark | Various | Enterprise pricing |
Notebook Best Practices
Code Organization
**Cell 1: Imports and configuration**
import torch
import transformers
CONFIG = {
"model_name": "meta-llama/Llama-2-7b-hf",
"max_length": 512,
}
**Cell 2: Data loading**
def load_data():
...
**Cell 3: Model setup**
def setup_model():
...
**Cell 4: Training loop**
**Cell 5: Evaluation**
**Cell 6: Save results**
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
| Pitfall | Solution |
|---|---|
| Hidden state | Restart kernel, run all cells |
| Out-of-order execution | Use cell magic: %%time at top |
| No version control | Use nbstripout, jupytext |
| Memory leaks | Clear GPU cache, restart kernel |
| Long outputs | Use logging, tqdm for progress |
Converting Notebooks to Production
Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| nbconvert | Convert to Python script |
| jupytext | Keep .py and .ipynb in sync |
| papermill | Parameterize and run notebooks |
| nbdev | Build libraries from notebooks |
Refactoring Pattern 1. Extract functions to .py modules 2. Keep notebook for exploration/visualization 3. Create CLI or API for production use 4. Add tests for extracted functions
Magic Commands
**Time a cell**
%%time
model.generate(...)
**Run shell commands**
!nvidia-smi
!pip install transformers
**Autoreload imports**
%load_ext autoreload
%autoreload 2
**Environment variables**
%env CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0
GPU Memory Management
**Check GPU memory**
!nvidia-smi
**Clear PyTorch cache**
torch.cuda.empty_cache()
**Delete objects and trigger GC**
del model
import gc
gc.collect()
torch.cuda.empty_cache()
notebookjupytercolabworkflow
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