Google Colab is a free, browser-based product from Google Research. It allows users to create, edit, and share Jupyter notebook .ipynb files without any intallation or set up. Colab notebooks allow you to combine executable code and rich text in a single document, along with images, HTML, LaTeX and more. You can easily share your Colab notebooks with co-workers or friends, allowing them to comment on your notebooks or even edit them. 


One of the biggest advantages of Colab is the ability to tap into the power of hardware accelerators such as GPUs and TPUs. You can not choose which accelerator you connect to, but they often include Nvidia K80s, T4s, P4s and P100s. 


While this is pretty impressive for a free product, the resources available fluctuate in accommodation with demand. This means that you can not guarantee the computing power you will have access to each time you use Colab. Those looking for more reliable options will have to look towards paid options, such as Colab pro. 


Colab notebooks are stored in Google Drive and can be shared just like any other Google document. 

Google Colaboratory

Another increasingly popular option of notebook is Deepnote. Just like Google Colab, Deepnote is browser based and requires no installation or set-up to use. The notebooks can contain different kinds of block and code cells. Block cells can contain plain text, headings, charts, or even LaTeX code for math visualization. Deepnote also provides a vast library of pre-installed Python packages, which allow for easy data analytics and machine learning. For a more in-depth description, check the Deepnote Documentation linked in the references for this node. 

Deepnote

Both of these browser-based notebooks are great for new arrivals to interactive notebooks. They are accessible and allow for users to get a sample of the power of computing. The main draw of Google Colab is the hardware accelerator feature, which is currently not supported within Deepnote. This means there is potential to take on bigger jobs more quickly. On the other hand, the main draw of Deepnote is the seamless real-time collaboration. Colab notebooks tend to lag with multiple users editing, while Deepnote keeps up.
\nOf course, both have drawbacks that are solved when using the paid version of each, such as descheduling long-running projects.

Colab vs. Deepnote

Browser-based, Jupyter-compatible interactive notebooks provide cloud-hosted environments for programming and data analytics without requiring local installation. Notable platforms in this category include Google Colaboratory and Deepnote.

Davidson College

Google

Jupyter Notebook is the main project of Project Jupyter. It is a free,  open-source, browser-based tool for creating and presenting data science work. Jupyter Notebooks are primarily used with Python, but there are various different kernels for other programming languages as well. Jupyter Notebook is integrated within Anaconda.

Jupyter Notebook

Jupyter Documentation

Notebook files are JSON files that are saved with the .ipynb extension. They contain both the actual static text written in the file along with outputs and information regarding each session. Notebook files may be exported as static files in the format of LaTeX, PDF, HTML, and more.

Jupyter Notebook File Format

Jupyter Notebooks are hosted on a web server. By default, they are locally hosted. However, external servers may be set up as well. To open an .ipynb file in your browser from the command line, enter the following command:
```console
jupyter notebook <filename>
```
If an extension is not included in the filename, .ipynb is assumed.

Jupyter Notebook Servers

The following are preset keyboard shortcuts for Jupyter Notebooks:
- Shift+Enter - run the current cell
- Esc - Command mode
- Enter - Edit mode

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