Lab 1 — Setup: VS Code with Python and Quarto

JSC370 (Winter 2026)

Overview

In this lab you will:

  • Install/confirm VS Code, Python, and Quarto
  • Confirm Quarto can run Python chunks (via Jupyter)
  • Render a Quarto document locally
  • Upload your .qmd to MarkUs

What you will submit to MarkUs

  • This completed .qmd file. Download the lab .qmd on GitHub
  • The rendered HTML output (JSC370-lab-01.html)

0. Before you start

  1. If you do not already have it, install VS Code. Then open this file in .
  2. In VS Code open the terminal (Terminal -> New Terminal). Recall you can toggle between terminals in VS Code. You should see a list of terminals on the bottom right panel.

1. Quarto

In the terminal, run:

quarto --version

If it is not installed, go to the Quarto download page and install for your OS: https://quarto.org/docs/download/.

After installing, quit and reopen VS Code (so PATH updates), then run quarto –version again.

PASTE YOUR VERSION HERE

Now install the Quarto extension in VS Code:

  1. In VS Code, click the Extensions icon (left sidebar), or press:
    • macOS: Cmd+Shift+X
    • Windows/Linux: Ctrl+Shift+X
  2. Search: Quarto
  3. Install: Quarto (publisher: quarto-dev)
  4. You may need to reload VS Code.

Preview this lab in VS Code

Open this .qmd file, then preview it with Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P) and select Quarto: Preview.

To stop preview: press Ctrl+C in the terminal running the preview.

2. Confirm Python is installed

You can try this in terminal:

#| echo: true
python3 --version

(If python3 doesn’t work, try python –version in terminal.) Paste the output, but the chunk above should do it for you if installed correctly.

3. Install core packages in terminal

Run the following in terminal. It is best to install packages in the terminal (not from inside Quarto).

python3 -m pip install -U pip
python3 -m pip install numpy pandas matplotlib jupyter ipykernel plotnine plotly

Also install the Jupyter extension in VS Code, similarly to how we installed the Quarto extension above (search for Jupyter).

Confirm Quarto can see Jupyter

quarto check jupyter
PASTE OUTPUT HERE

4. Verify your Python environment

Run the chunk below. If this fails, double-check that VS Code is using the Python environment where you installed packages.

import sys
import pandas as pd

print("Python executable:", sys.executable)
print("pandas version:", pd.__version__)

5. Your turn: make a plot

Use the plotnine library (ggplot-like) to make a simple scatterplot. Update the code below:

  1. Title must include your name (e.g., "Penguin bill measurements — Your Name").
  2. Change the point transparency by setting alpha to a new value.
from plotnine import ggplot, aes, geom_point, labs, theme_minimal
from plotnine.data import penguins

(
    ggplot(penguins, aes("bill_length_mm", "bill_depth_mm", color="species"))
    + geom_point(alpha=0.4)  
    + labs(title="Penguin bill measurements — YOUR NAME")  
    + theme_minimal()
)

6. Render ‘.qmd’ to ‘.html’

In the terminal, make sure you are in the folder containing this file, then run:

quarto render JSC370-lab-01.qmd

This should create an HTML file in the same folder, e.g. JSC370-lab-01.html.

Confirm it exists:

ls -l JSC370-lab-01.html

Print out the output and make sure it is in this lab. Also open the HTML in your browser to confirm it looks correct.