Long ago, I mentioned how to install TensorFlow on SageMathCloud. Today, I decided to give SageMathCloud a proper stream. It’s a good thing I did, because it’s gotten a lot better in the past year.

SageMathCloud has been a convenient way to use IPython Notebooks with a lot of prebuilt computing tools for awhile now. But recently, they’ve upped their game on machine learning libraries that come pre-installed. You no longer need a hacky workaround to install TensorFlow, it comes free! Prefer Theano? No problemo; it’s got that too. It even has a version of Keras so you can get going quickly. This is all in addition to the solid NumPy/SciPy/Matplotlib support. It’s a great platform.

I have only a couple complaints. First, it doesn’t play nice with Firefox anymore (maybe it never did?). So you’ll have to install Chrom[ium] or IE or something to use it. Not a big deal. Also, whiel it does have several machine learning libraries, the versions are a bit dated. This might be based on the Anaconda version they’re running, but it was a bummer to see Keras at version 1.1.2 on PyPi but only find version 0.3.2 on SageMathCloud. Not a big deal, but a number of things have changed since then. Chasing versions, however, I know would be a Sissyphean task given the pace of these libraries. Maybe I’ll just have to live with it.