Getting Started

Welcome to the documentation for spark. Spark is a library developed by Schulich Ignite to help students draw in python.

The basics

Below is everything you need to get started with spark. If you are looking for something specific there is a search bar in the top right and a list of available documentation on the left, and at the bottom of this page.

Also note that you can copy any code listed on this site by clicking on the clipboard icon in the top right of the code block.

Logging in and Slides

To use spark simply login to the Schulich Ignite server here, you will need a gmail account (an email with @gmail.com).

Slides for each class are available on the main website.

Interface

Please keep in mind the Schulich Ignite server is based on Jupyter Notebooks, and may look different to other versions of python you have seen.

Toolbars

There are two toolbars

Toolbar 1

Primarily for creating new notebooks, changing settings, and exporting notebooks

Toolbar 2

Used to run cells, and other tasks within the current notebook

Play buttons

Also note that there are two "play" options:

The first is to run the current cell (can also be done with shift + enter).

The second runs all cells in the notebook

Cells

Cells are the little grey rectangles that appear under the second toolbar. You will write your code inside of them. Each cell can be run independently, and notebooks can have an unlimited (mostly) number of cells.

Cell numbers

Also keep in mind the number to the left of the text input (grey rectangle) is the cell number, that tells you which cells were last used.

Collapsing cells

You can also collapse a cell, or it's output by hitting the blue rectangle on the left of the cell. For example this is what it looks like before:

And what it looks like after hitting the rectangle:

Running cells

To run cells you can either click the play button on toolbar 2, or hit shift + enter on your keyboard

Setting up a notebook

Once you are logged in you can create a notebook by going to File --> New --> Notebook:

You will then need to just hit Select on the pre-selected kernal that shows up:

Boilerplate

At the start of each notebook you will need to include the following lines in the first cell, and run it before writing any other code:

!pip install --upgrade schulich-ignite
import spark
%reload_ext spark

Your notebook should look like this:

Roughly speaking all this code does, is download the latest version of spark and then bring it into the notebook so we can use it.

Setting up a cell

At the start of each cell (except the first) you need to have at least the following two lines if your code only needs to draw things once:

%%ignite

def setup():
    size(200, 200) # You can change 200, 200 to any integers

You can also use the draw() function, which will execute the code constantly that is inside it. The draw function executes 30 times per second. This makes it ideal for things like animation, and any code that will update itself over time. Most of the time this will be the setup you want:

%%ignite

def setup():
    size(200, 200) # You can change 200, 200 to any integers

def draw():
    # loops everything in here forever and draws stuff

Saving notebooks

There are two options to save. You can save a notebook with a new name, or save an existing notebook:

Save a notebook with a name

To save your notebook with a new name go to *file --> save as or use Ctrl or Cmd + Shift+S:

A few things to keep in mind when saving file:

1. You CANNOT have ANY spaces, use _ to seperate if need be i.e. my_test_notebook.ipynb
2. Make sure you have .ipynb at the end, if you don't the file won't load

Save an existing notebook

To save your notebook with the same name go to file --> save or use Ctrl or Cmd + S:

Other documentation

Colors - Any functions related to coloring shapes, text, or background

Input - Any functions related to taking user input, such as mouse position or keyboard input

Shapes & Text - Any functions related to creating shapes and/or text

Utilities - Any other useful functions that do not fit the above categories