GitHub Classroom and Codespaces: Empowering Personalized Development Environments

This session introduces GitHub Classroom and Codespaces, frameworks that enable educators to deliver personalized, reproducible development environments for training sessions. These tools help ensure that every trainee starts from a consistent baseline and can focus on learning without worrying about local environment issues.

Overview

GitHub Classroom and Codespaces together allow instructors to:

  • Automate Repository Creation: Personalized repositories are generated for each student from a central template (e.g., c3b-template).

  • Provide Instant Development Environments: Students can launch cloud-based Codespaces pre-configured with all required tools and dependencies.

  • Maintain Consistency: Every student’s environment is identical, reducing setup issues and enabling smooth collaboration and assessment.

GitHub Classroom

GitHub Classroom streamlines the assignment lifecycle by automating repository creation and management.

  • Key Features:

    • Automated Repository Creation: When an assignment is distributed, GitHub Classroom generates a personalized repository for each student using a template such as c3b-template. This ensures every trainee starts from the same codebase.

    • Assignment Management: Instructors can set deadlines, provide feedback, and track student progress directly within GitHub.

    • Version Control Integration: Students benefit from Git’s version control system, making it easier to track changes and collaborate.

  • Benefits for Training:

    • Uniformity: All trainees work from the same starting point, enabling a consistent learning experience.

    • Efficiency: Automated workflows reduce the time instructors spend managing repositories.

    • Enhanced Collaboration: Instructors and students can interact directly through pull requests, issues, and code reviews.

GitHub Codespaces

GitHub Codespaces provides cloud-hosted development environments that are ready to use immediately.

  • Key Features:

    • Pre-configured Environments: Codespaces are built using configuration files (e.g., devcontainer.json) from the repository, ensuring each environment contains all necessary tools (like Docker, compilers, and MPI libraries).

    • Accessible Anywhere: Trainees can open their Codespace directly in a web browser without needing local installations.

    • Consistency and Reproducibility: Every Codespace uses the same OS (e.g., Ubuntu 24.04) and setup, eliminating "works on my machine" issues.

  • Integration with GitHub Classroom:

    • When a student accepts an assignment, GitHub Classroom creates a repository from c3b-template. This repository includes the configuration for Codespaces, so each student gets an identical, ready-to-use environment.

    • This allows trainees to dive straight into coding and learning MPI/HPC concepts, rather than spending time setting up their local environments.

Please click > here to start the training session.

Your repository

Now check your repository and read the README.adoc instructions to start the training session.

The next steps are:

  • compile the MPI application

  • run the MPI application

  • test the MPI application

  • Repeat on Karolina using the following modules

Summary

By combining GitHub Classroom with Codespaces:

  • Instructors can automatically generate personalized repositories using the c3b-template.

  • Trainees receive a fully configured, cloud-based development environment that is consistent across the board.

  • The focus shifts from environment setup to learning and developing HPC applications, making the training experience smoother and more effective.

Questions? Let’s discuss how these frameworks can transform your teaching and streamline the learning process!