Jupyter Notebook vs. Google Colab
The Jupyter Notebook is an open-source web-based application that can be used to capture the whole computation process, as in developing, documenting, and executing code, as well as communicating the results. It is developed by Project Jupyter, a project and community that supports interactive data science and scientific computing across all programming languages.
On the other hand, Google’s Colaboratory (“Colab” for short), a product from Google Research, is basically a free Jupyter Notebook environment that runs entirely in the cloud.
What exactly are Jupyter & Colab?
They are what is called a computational notebook, which is simply an environment that can be used to combine software code, computational output, explanatory text, and multimedia resources in a single document.
As opposed to a standard Integrated Development Environment (IDE) where you write code in a file, save it and run it entirely as one sequence, the notebook approach allows you to section your code using individual cells that will only run the code within the cell, even while running as one program collectively. This will allow you to change the sequence of the code or run only selected cells as required.
Here you will see the output of your code right below the cell, making it easier to understand as well as debug. Also, you can add descriptions and other resources at the relevant point in the code itself.
So, based on their origin, Jupyter and Colab obviously share many similarities, but are they entirely the same?
Comparison
As mentioned above, the main difference between Jupyter and Colab is that the latter is a cloud-based version of the former. But from this stem various more minor differences that can make one more suited than the other for a particular purpose.
The pros of using Jupyter would be that it gives a better understanding of the environments through the initial setup and further tasks like installing libraries. Since files are stored locally, they are easier to access. Also, though it commonly runs on a web browser, Jupyter can even be executed on a local device, requiring no internet connection.
The downside, of course, is that users must manage the environments and libraries themselves and that files can be accessed only locally through a device that has Jupyter installed.
In comparison, being a cloud-based software, Colab is somewhat easier to use for beginners, as it does not require any kind of installation or setup. It comes with most popular libraries pre-installed and provides free access to computing resources.
Colab notebooks can even be shared among groups in order to edit simultaneously, as all other Google Docs, and since notebooks are saved on Google Drive, they can be opened and used across multiple devices. Furthermore, Colab allows you to use and share Jupyter notebooks without having to download, install, or run anything on your own computer.
Still, Colab too poses some challenges as it requires an active internet connection, making it somewhat harder to upload local files or download. Also, the installation of additional libraries can be complicated.
To sum it up, both Jupyter Notebook and Google Colab are quite similar in design and purpose, but the differences in the nature of the platforms leave it up to you to choose the best suited to your needs.