Extremely Serious

Month: August 2025

How to Use Jupyter Notebook with Poetry: A Step-by-Step Guide

Poetry is a powerful dependency management and packaging tool for Python projects, offering isolated virtual environments and reproducible builds. Using Jupyter Notebook with Poetry allows you to work seamlessly within the same environment managed by Poetry, ensuring all your dependencies are consistent.

This guide will take you through the steps to get up and running with Jupyter Notebook using Poetry.


Step 1: Install Poetry Using pip

You can install Poetry using pip, the Python package installer. Run the following command:

pip install poetry

After installation, verify that Poetry is installed and accessible:

poetry --version

Step 2: Create a New Poetry Project

Create a new directory for your project and initialize it with Poetry:

mkdir my-jupyter-project
cd my-jupyter-project
poetry init --no-interaction

This generates a pyproject.toml file to manage your project’s dependencies.


Step 3: Add Jupyter and ipykernel as Dependencies

Add Jupyter Notebook as a development dependency:

poetry add --dev jupyter ipykernel

You can also add other libraries you plan to use (e.g., pandas, numpy):

poetry add pandas numpy

Step 4: Install the Jupyter Kernel for Your Poetry Environment

Make your Poetry virtual environment available as a kernel in Jupyter so you can select it when you launch notebooks:

poetry run python -m ipykernel install --user --name=my-jupyter-project

Replace my-jupyter-project with a meaningful name for your kernel.


Step 5: Launch Jupyter Notebook

Run Jupyter Notebook using Poetry to ensure you are using the correct virtual environment:

poetry run jupyter notebook

This command will start Jupyter Notebook in your browser. When you create or open a notebook, make sure to select the kernel named after your Poetry environment (my-jupyter-project in this example).


Step 6: Start Coding!

You now have a fully isolated environment managed by Poetry, using Jupyter Notebook for your interactive computing. All the dependencies installed via Poetry are ready to use.


Optional: Using Jupyter Lab

If you prefer Jupyter Lab, you can add and run it similarly:

poetry add --dev jupyterlab
poetry run jupyter lab

This method ensures your Jupyter notebooks are reproducible, isolated, and aligned with your Poetry-managed Python environment, improving project consistency and collaboration.

If you use VSCode, be sure to select the Poetry virtual environment interpreter and the corresponding Jupyter kernel to have a smoother development experience.

Enjoy coding with Poetry and Jupyter!

The Real Experience of Using a Vibe-Coded Application

“Vibe coding” isn’t just about getting something to work—it’s about how the built application feels and performs for everyone who uses it. The style, structure, and polish of code left behind by different types of builders—whether a non-developer, a junior developer, or a senior developer—directly influence the strengths and quirks you’ll encounter when you use a vibe-coded app.


When a Non-Developer Vibe Codes the App

  • What you notice:
    • The app may get the job done for a specific purpose, but basic bugs or confusing behavior crop up once you step outside the main workflow.
    • Error messages are unhelpful or missing, and sudden failures are common when users enter unexpected data.
  • Long-term impact:
    • Adding features, fixing issues, or scaling up becomes painful.
    • The app “breaks” easily if used in unanticipated ways, and no one wants to inherit the code.

When a Junior Developer Vibe Codes the App

  • What you notice:
    • There’s visible structure: pages fit together, features work, and the app looks like a professional product at first glance.
    • As you use it more, some buttons or features don’t always behave as expected, and occasional bugs or awkward UI choices become apparent.
    • Documentation may be missing, and upgrades can sometimes introduce new problems.
  • Long-term impact:
    • Regular use exposes “quirks” and occasional frustrations, especially as the app or user base grows.
    • Maintenance or feature additions cost more time, since hidden bugs surface in edge cases or after updates.

When a Senior Developer Vibe Codes the App

  • What you notice:
    • Everything feels smooth—there’s polish, sensible navigation, graceful error messages, and a sense of reliability.
    • Features work the way you intuitively expect, and odd scenarios are handled thoughtfully (with clear guidance or prevention).
  • Long-term impact:
    • The application scales up smoothly; bugs are rare and quickly fixed; documentation is clear, so others can confidently build on top of the product.
    • Users enjoy consistent quality, even as new features are added or the system is used in new ways.

Bottom Line

The level of vibe coding behind an application dramatically shapes real-world user experience:

  • With non-developer vibe coding, apps work only until a real-world edge case breaks the flow.
  • Junior vibe coding brings function, but with unpredictable wrinkles—great for prototyping, but less for mission-critical tasks.
  • Senior vibe coding means fewer headaches, greater stability, and a product that survives change and scale.

Sustained use of “vibe-coded” apps highlights just how much code quality matters. Clean, thoughtful code isn’t just an academic ideal—it’s the foundation of great digital experiences.

Unpacking AI Creativity: Temperature, Top-k, Top-p, and More — Made Simple

Ever wondered what goes on under the hood when language models (like ChatGPT) craft those surprisingly clever, creative, or even bizarre responses? It all comes down to how the AI chooses its next word. In language model jargon, parameters like temperature, top-k, top-p, and several others act as the steering wheel and gas pedal for a model’s creativity and coherence. Let’s demystify these terms with simple explanations, relatable examples, and clear categories.


1. Controlling Creativity and Randomness

Temperature: The Creativity Dial

What it does: Controls how “random” or “creative” the model is when picking the next word.

How it works:

  • After calculating the likelihood of each possible next word, the model scales these probabilities by the temperature value.
  • Lower temperature (<1) sharpens probabilities, making the model pick more predictable words.
  • Higher temperature (>1) flattens probabilities, increasing the chance of less likely, more creative words.

Example:
Prompt: "The cat sat on the..."

  • Low temperature (0.2) → “mat.”
  • High temperature (1.2) → “windowsill, pondering a daring leap into the unknown.”

2. Limiting the Word Choices

Top-k Sampling: Picking from the Favorites

What it does: Limits the model to select the next word only from the top k most likely candidates.

How it works:

  • The model ranks all possible next words by probability.
  • It discards all except the top k words and normalizes their probabilities.
  • The next word is then sampled from this limited set.

Example:
Prompt: "The weather today is..."

  • Top-k = 3 → “sunny, cloudy, or rainy.”
  • Top-k = 40 → “sunny, humid, breezy, misty, unpredictable, magical...”

Top-p Sampling (Nucleus Sampling): Smart Curation

What it does: Dynamically selects the smallest set of top candidate words whose combined probability exceeds threshold p.

How it works:

  • The model sorts words by probability from highest to lowest.
  • It accumulates the probabilities until their sum reaches or exceeds p (e.g., 0.9).
  • The next word is sampled from this dynamic “nucleus” pool.

Example:
Prompt: "The secret to happiness is..."

  • Top-p = 0.5 → “love.”
  • Top-p = 0.95 → “love, adventure, good friends, chocolate, exploring, a song in your heart...”

3. Controlling Repetition and Novelty

Frequency Penalty

What it does: Decreases the likelihood of words that have already appeared frequently in the text.

How it works:

  • Words that occur more often are penalized in their probability, reducing repetition.

Example:
If the word “sunny” appears repeatedly, the model is less likely to pick “sunny” again soon.

Presence Penalty

What it does: Encourages introducing new words and concepts instead of reusing existing ones.

How it works:

  • Words already mentioned get a penalty making them less probable to recur.

Example:
After mentioning “love,” the model is nudged towards new ideas like “adventure” or “friendship” in the continuation.


4. Managing Output Length and Search Strategy

Max Tokens

What it does: Limits the total number of tokens (words or word pieces) the model can generate in one response.

How it works:

  • The model stops generating once this token count is reached, ending the output.

Example:
If Max Tokens = 50, the model will stop after generating 50 tokens, even if the thought is unfinished.

Beam Search

What it does: Keeps track of multiple possible sequences during generation to find the best overall sentence.

How it works:

  • Instead of sampling one word at a time, the model maintains several candidate sequences (beams) simultaneously.
  • It evaluates and selects the sequence with the highest total likelihood.

Example:
The model considers several ways to complete the sentence “The weather today is…” and picks the one that makes the most sense overall.


Summary Table

Category Parameter What It Does How It Works Example
Creativity & Randomness Temperature Controls randomness and creativity Scales word probabilities before sampling Low temp: “mat.” High temp: “windowsill…”
Limiting Word Choices Top-k Picks from top K probable words Limits sampling pool to top K words K=3: “sunny, cloudy,” K=40: “breezy, misty…”
Top-p (Nucleus) Picks from tokens covering p% total probability Dynamically selects smallest pool with cumulative prob ≥ p p=0.5: “love.” p=0.95: “adventure, chocolate”
Repetition & Novelty Frequency Penalty Reduces repeated words Penalizes frequently used words Avoids repeating “sunny”
Presence Penalty Encourages new words Penalizes words already present Introduces new concepts after “love”
Output & Search Strategy Max Tokens Limits length of output Stops generation after set token count Stops after 50 tokens
Beam Search Finds most coherent sequence Maintains and selects best of multiple token sequences Picks best completion of “The weather today is”

By adjusting these parameters, you can tailor AI outputs to be more predictable, creative, concise, or expansive depending on your needs. Behind every witty, insightful, or quirky AI response, there’s a carefully tuned blend of these controls shaping its word-by-word choices.