Changes to quick start guide

[sidd3888]

Quick Start Guide

Installing HARK

Installing HARK with pip

• The code on activating the virtualenv does not apply to Windows, so it might be better simply referencing the section below where the procedure is explained for Mac/Linux and Windows

Using HARK with Anaconda

• It may be worth mentioning that pip install econ-ark can be used within the Anaconda distribution, as it seems to be working faster than the conda installation (and bypassing some issues I am facing with the conda version)
• Point number 6: the mention of DemARK and REMARK repositories was probably intended to be in bullet points as opposed to using underscores. Additionally, it could be made into a separate subsection, as it does not address installing HARK into Anaconda

Making changes to HARK

(Optionally) Create a virtual environment

• Activating the virtualenv on Windows when using PowerShell (which is the case when using VSCode, for instance) will require accessing the .PS1 file instead of .bat. Instead, using the agnostic econ-ark\Scripts\activate may help.

Install requirements

• There is no file named requirements.txt in the HARK repo directory. Instead, there is a folder named requirements which has three files within

HARK installation guide

This page may benefit from a complete restructuring. Much of the content is a repeat from the quick start guide, and is even repeated twice (between the new and advanced users). I think we can replace this with a short page on just setting up a Python installation and IDE for new users, along with the sections on DemARK and REMARK. Nevertheless, if we choose not to, or for whatever content we may transplant to these new pages, I suggest the following edits.

Instructions for a new user

• Atom was officially archived as of December 2022, so we might want to endorse a different text editor or IDE (perhaps VSCode?)
• More of the same suggestions with the activation of the virtualenv on Windows
• conda install econ-ark does not work as a means of installation, so perhaps this section is outdated

Content aside from the Toolkit

Demonstrations and Illustrations

• I presume that "* DemARK: ..." meant it was meant to be a heading, similar to the subsection on REMARK.

Instructions for an advanced user

• Again the same virtualenv thing and the missing requirements.txt

@MridulS you may have some better ideas on any of the technical suggestions here, primarily the installation using conda-forge, as I seemed to run into issue after issue with it

[MridulS]

Thanks for this @sidd3888, could you also review #1350? This PR already works on redoing the initial guide.

[sidd3888]

I commented on the PR in relation to the point about using pip or conda. I think the PR addresses the points relating to the installation guide, but we should also make the corresponding changes to the quick start guide.

P.S. I marked my reply there as resolved because I thought it was an error on my part, but perhaps due to dependencies, neither pip nor conda are able to install the latest version of HARK (this is in a newly created environment)

[DominicWC]

Fixed by PR #1436

[akshayshanker]

@alanlujan91 if this is fixed by 1436, can you please close.