This is a repository for developing the first online textbook of its kind for APS105. The book's name is Snefru: Learning Programming with C. It is developed using Jupyter Book.
You will find the book at learningc.org, or learningc.netlify.app
If you are trying to build the book locally, you can follow the instructions below.
1- Clone this GitHub repo. In your terminal, type the following command:
git clone https://github.com/salma-emara/aps105-book/
cd aps105-book
2- Install jupyter-book by running the following command in the terminal
pip install -r requirements.txt
3- To build the book locally, run the following command:
# To build everything for the first time
node ./textbook/_static/toml_to_js_convertor.js
jupyter-book build --all textbook
cp -r textbook/quizzes/ textbook/_build/html/quizzes
cp -r embeddings/outputs textbook/_build/html
# To build everything
jupyter-book build --all textbook
# To build after updating a markdown file
jupyter-book build textbook
# To build after updating quizzes
node ./textbook/_static/toml_to_js_convertor.js
jupyter-book build --all textbook
cp -r textbook/quizzes/ textbook/_build/html/quizzes
4- To view the book, you have two options:
-
Open directly:
open textbook/_build/html/index.html
Note: Opening the book this way uses the
file:///
protocol, which may cause issues with functionalities like search or semantic search due to CORS policies. -
Run a local server (recommended for full functionality):
cd textbook/_build/html python -m http.server 8000 open http://localhost:8000
This method ensures all functionalities, including search and semantic search, work correctly.
5- To update text embeddings for Semantic Search after a change, follow these steps:
- Ensure you have installed the necessary packages as described in the
embeddings/README.md
file. Or run the following commandpip install sentence-transformers beautifulsoup4 numpy
- Run the following commands:
python embeddings/generate.py cp -r embeddings/outputs textbook/_build/html
- Run the following command when deploying on Netlify:
cp -r textbook/semantic-search.html textbook/_build/html
- Whenever a change that could affect table of content or semantic-search page
- Run the following command after jupyter-book build to update locally stored semantic-search.html
cp -r textbook/_build/html/semantic-search.html textbook
- Run the following command or open directly the local semantic-search.html in VSCode edit mode
code textbook/semantic-search.html
- Make changes in the local semantic-search.html
- Use ctrl + F or cmd + F and search for title
- change
<title><no title> — Snefru: Learning Programming with C</title>
to below:
<title>Semantic Search — Snefru: Learning Programming with C</title>
- Run the following command again to update the changes in _build when deploying on Netlify
cp -r textbook/semantic-search.html textbook/_build/html
- Run the following command after jupyter-book build to update locally stored semantic-search.html
To check spelling mistakes, you need to install pyspelling
using the following command:
pip install pyspelling
Then run the following command:
cd spell-check/
pyspelling -c spell-check.yml
Most contributions require knowledge of Markdown. I ask you to be consistent with the rest of the book if you will make substantial changes. If you want to add advanced features, you may seek help from Jupyter Book website.
If you are using VS Code, install MyST-Markdown extension to allow syntax highlighting for .md
files.
When you add a new .md
file, remember to include it in textbook/_toc.yml
.
Since this book is still under development, it will have mistakes. If you find a typographical, grammatical or any other mistake, I would highly appreciate if you open an issue pointing out the mistake is in which file. You may also correct it and create a pull request!
If you do not have a GitHub account, you may send the primary author an email at [email protected]
.
Thank you in advance!
For anyone with a write request to main branch, with every push Netlify will automatically deploy it to learningc.org. This is done following instructions on Netlify for Jupyter-Book.
The quizzes for the book are created in TOML files, which are then converted into JavaScript files to be read by the code to build the book.
To convert .toml files to .js files:
1- Ensure you have Node.js installed on your system. You can download it from their official website (https://nodejs.org).
2- Download the required package by executing the following command:
npm install @iarna/toml
To add a new quiz:
1- Create a new .toml file containing the quiz in textbook/quizzes in the chapter folder of your choice.
2- In your terminal, execute the following command in aps105-book
directory.
node ./textbook/_static/toml_to_js_convertor.js
A .js file will be created in the corresponding folders for all the .toml files present in the textbook/quizzes directory.
3- Open the .md file where you want the quiz to be and add the following line. Replace file-name
with the name of your quiz file (without .js extension).
{{quiz_embed | replace("%%FILENAME%%", "file-name") }}
To edit an existing quiz:
1- Open the .toml file of the quiz you want to edit and make the desired changes.
2- In your terminal, go to aps105-book
directory and execute the following command.
node ./textbook/_static/toml_to_js_convertor.js
Build the book locally and ensure the quiz is behaving as expected.