Installing Polyglot Notebooks
Tags: polyglotnotebooks, dotnet, datascience, vscode
Published: 2023-05-09 03:42:57

---
title: Installing Polyglot Notebooks
published: true
description: Polyglot Notebooks let you do data science and analytics experiments in dotnet. Let's take a look at what you need to do to get started.
tags: PolyglotNotebooks,Dotnet,DataScience,VSCode
cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3gg61uzxl4ikykf8f6ev.png
# Use a ratio of 100:42 for best results.
# published_at: 2023-05-09 03:38 +0000
canonical_url: https://accessibleai.dev/post/installpolyglotnotebooks/
series: Polyglot Notebooks
---

Polyglot Notebooks is a powerful new interactive notebook technology that lets you run experiments in your editor, mix together code and rich documentation, and write code in a variety of languages to accomplish your tasks.

This article will guide you through the setup process to get Polyglot Notebooks running on your machine so you can do local data science and analytics notebooks using dotnet.

## Install VS Code

The first thing you should do is download and install Visual Studio Code.

Visual Studio Code, also called VS Code, is a free and open-source cross-platform code editor that allows you to develop code in a wide variety of languages through a rich ecosystem of editor extensions.

To get started, you'll need to install the appropriate version of VS Code for your operating system from the [VS Code download page](https://code.visualstudio.com/download).

![Download VS Code](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/dypqurzpzrsd1zx7k2ua.png)

The exact instructions will vary depending on your operating system so follow the installation instructions for your operating system.

## Install the .NET SDK

Polyglot Notebooks rely on .NET to power notebook code. As such they require the .NET SDK to power the internals of the notebook.

Of course, .NET is free, open-source, and cross-platform as well, so it is easy to install and get running.

At the time of this writing, .NET 7 is the most recent stable version of .NET available and is the recommended version you should install to get started with Polyglot Notebooks.

To install .NET 7, go to the [Download .NET 7.0 page](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/7.0) and download and install the appropriate installer for your operating system.

![Installing .NET 7.0](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/fs6wmi8ulj3qlf6bdtl3.png)

*Note: generally you'll want the latest version of the SDK to get the latest available security patches, but the exact version number you install generally won't matter*

## Reboot

Once you've installed VS Code and .NET 7.0 I strongly recommend you close all applications and restart your system. I've seen a number of points of frustration arise from not doing so, so I've made rebooting its own section here.

Go reboot your machine. Seriously.

Okay, now it's time for the fun stuff.

## Install VS Code Extensions

Next, launch VS Code and find the extensions tab on the left sidebar. The extensions tab has an icon with 4 blocks being assembled into a square as shown below.

![Extensions Tab](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/dww9p0ssbp0q0nmj7jyk.png)

Now, you should search for and install the following extensions:

- [Polyglot Notebooks](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-dotnettools.dotnet-interactive-vscode)
- [Jupyter](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-toolsai.jupyter)
- [SandDance for VSCode](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=msrvida.vscode-sanddance)

![Polyglot Notebooks Extension](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/r2bnm5izeia37erpft8s.png)

These extensions will set you up for a good data analytics, data science, and software engineering experience using dotnet and VS Code.

Once you have installed these extensions, click the "Reload Required" button or close and reopen VS Code to ensure these extensions are properly loaded.

## Running Polyglot Notebooks

To validate that Polyglot Notebooks are correctly loaded, hit `Control + Shift + P` or the operating-system appropriate keyboard shortcut to bring up the VS Code command palette.

Once the command palette is up, type in `Polyglot` and search for the `Polyglot Notebook: Create default notebook` command.

![Polyglot Create Default Notebook](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/88yvudzblj7xeb45gkpn.png)

This should prompt for you to select `.dib` or `.ipynb` as a file format and then a language choice after that. Select `.dib` and then `C#`.

Once that is complete, you should see an empty code cell. Type in `Console.WriteLine("Hello Polyglot");` and then click the "play" button to run your cell.

You should see "Hello Polyglot" appear below your cell if all is functioning properly, as shown below.

![Polyglot Hello World](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3h1oq7ay6pranghdzvd5.png)

You are now configured to be able to create and run Polyglot Notebooks using VS Code.