Taming the Diversity of Computational Notebooks

Abstract

In many applications of Computational Science and especially Data Science, notebooks are the cornerstone of knowledge and experiment sharing. Their diversity is multiple (problem addressed, input data, algorithm used, overall quality) and is not made explicit at all. As they are heavily reused through a clone-and-own approach, the tailoring process from an existing notebook to a specific problem is cumbersome, error-prone, and particularly uncertain. In this paper, we propose a tooled approach that captures the different dimensions of variability in computational notebooks. It allows one to seek an existing notebook that suits her requirements, or to generate most parts of a new one. CCS CONCEPTS• Software and its engineering → Software product lines; • Computing methodologies → Machine learning.