update contributing

Author: MarcoGorelli

.github/workflows/arviz_compat.yml

@@ -38,8 +38,15 @@ jobs:
           channel-priority: strict
           environment-file: environment-dev.yml
           use-only-tar-bz2: true # IMPORTANT: This needs to be set for caching to work properly!
-      - run: |
+      - name: Install pymc3
+        run: |
           conda activate testenv
-          conda remove arviz -y
+          pip install -e .
+      - name: Install latest arviz
+        run: |
+          conda activate testenv
+          pip uninstall arviz -y
           pip install git+git://github.com/arviz-devs/arviz.git
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: |
           python -m pytest -vv --cov=pymc3 --cov-report=xml --cov-report term --durations=50 $TEST_SUBSET

.github/workflows/pytest.yml

@@ -78,7 +78,12 @@ jobs:
           channel-priority: strict
           environment-file: environment-dev.yml
           use-only-tar-bz2: true # IMPORTANT: This needs to be set for caching to work properly!
-      - run: |
+      - name: Install-pymc3
+        run: |
+          conda activate testenv
+          pip install -e .
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: |
           conda activate testenv
           python -m pytest -vv --cov=pymc3 --cov-report=xml --cov-report term --durations=50 $TEST_SUBSET
       - name: Upload coverage to Codecov

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -38,19 +38,27 @@ The preferred workflow for contributing to PyMC3 is to fork the [GitHub reposito
 3. Create a ``feature`` branch to hold your development changes:
 
    ```bash
-   $ git checkout -b my-feature
+   $ git switch -c my-feature
    ```
 
    Always use a ``feature`` branch. It's good practice to never routinely work on the ``master`` branch of any repository.
 
-4. Project requirements are in ``requirements.txt``, and libraries used for development are in ``requirements-dev.txt``.  To set up a development environment, you may (probably in a [virtual environment](https://docs.python-guide.org/dev/virtualenvs/)) run:
+4. Project requirements are in ``requirements.txt``, and libraries used for development are in ``requirements-dev.txt``. The easiest (and recommended) way to set up a development environment is via [miniconda](https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html):
+
+  ```bash
+  $ conda env create -f environment-dev.yml
+  $ conda activate testenv
+  $ pip install -e .
+  ```
+
+  _Alternatively_ you may (probably in a [virtual environment](https://docs.python-guide.org/dev/virtualenvs/)) run:
 
    ```bash
-   $ pip install -r requirements.txt
+   $ pip install -e .
    $ pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
    ```
 
-Alternatively, there is a script to create a docker environment for development.  See: [Developing in Docker](#Developing-in-Docker).
+  Yet another alternative is to create a docker environment for development. See: [Developing in Docker](#Developing-in-Docker).
 
 5. Develop the feature on your feature branch. Add changed files using ``git add`` and then ``git commit`` files:
 
@@ -103,26 +111,7 @@ tools:
   $ pytest --cov=pymc3 pymc3/tests/<name of test>.py
   ```
 
-* No `pyflakes` warnings, check with:
-
-  ```bash
-  $ pip install pyflakes
-  $ pyflakes path/to/module.py
-  ```
-
-* No PEP8 warnings, check with:
-
-  ```bash
-  $ pip install pycodestyle
-  $ pycodestyle path/to/module.py
-  ```
-
-* AutoPEP8 can help you fix some of the easy redundant errors:
-
-  ```bash
-  $ pip install autopep8
-  $ autopep8 path/to/pep8.py
-  ```
+* No `pre-commit` errors: see the [Python code style](https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc3/wiki/PyMC3-Python-Code-Style) and [Jupyter Notebook style](https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc3/wiki/PyMC's-Jupyter-Notebook-Style) page from our Wiki on how to install and run it.
 
 ## Developing in Docker
 

environment-dev.yml

@@ -13,24 +13,9 @@ dependencies:
   - fastprogress>=0.2
   - h5py>=2.7
   - typing-extensions>=3.7
-  - bokeh>=0.12
-  - coverage>=5.1
-  - python-graphviz
   - ipython>=7.16
-  - nbsphinx>=0.4
-  - nose>=1.3
-  - nose-parameterized>=0.6
-  - numpydoc>=0.9
-  - pre-commit>=2.8.0
   - pytest-cov>=2.5
   - pytest>=3.0
-  - recommonmark>=0.4
-  - seaborn>=0.8
-  - sphinx-autobuild>=0.7
-  - sphinx>=1.5
-  - watermark
-  - parameterized
-  - ipywidgets
   - dataclasses  # python_version < 3.7
   - contextvars  # python_version < 3.7
   - mkl-service