• Product Page: https://cloud.google.com/ai/generative-ai?hl=en
• Code samples: https://cloud.google.com/docs/samples?text=Generative%20AI

If you are interested in code sample contributions, see Contributing Guide.

Only for Generative AI Python samples, below style guide instructions take precedence over Samples Style Guide.

Wrap the imports, sample code and the region tags to be with in one function definition. This is to keep the region tag section code to be in script format and also allowing you to write regular testcases.

This change is motivated by the desire to provide code samples in a copy-paste-run format that is helpful for popular data science community tools like Google Colab, Jupyter Notebooks, and IPython shell.

Here is an example code.

def create_hello_world_file(filename):
    # <region tag: starts here>
    import os
    
    # TODO(developer): Update and uncomment below code
    # filename = `/tmp/test.txt`
    
    if os.path.isfile(filename):
        print(f'Overriding content in file(name: {filename})!')
    
    with open(filename) as fp:
        fp.write('Hello world!')
    # <region tag: ends here>

In Google Cloud documentation, this code sample will be shown as below

import os

# TODO(developer): Update and uncomment below code
# filename = `/tmp/test.txt`

if os.path.isfile(filename):
    print(f'Overriding content in file(name: {filename})!')

with open(filename) as fp:
    fp.write('Hello world!')

Note: In the above sample, imports are include and TODO's are provided to variable that need to update by users.

Suggestion to avoid hidden variables in code samples

• Use global variables, to defined common variables like PROJECT_ID, LOCATION.

• Keep the function definitions simple, with less or no arguments.

  • Ex: Use def generate_text() -> str: instead of def generate_text(temperature=..image_path=..video_path=..) -> str:

• Use descriptive variables names and if need, use long variable name.

  • Ex: Use text_input instead of user_input or input_var or myvar ...

• Resist the temptation to tell more

  • Ex: Don't define unused optional arguments
  • Ex: Use Read more @ http://.. than explaining video_config looks like {"foo": "bar",...}

Note: Not all the samples are the same! "Avoid Hidden variables" is not same as "Dont/No Hidden Variables".

To summarize, it's crucial to maintain the simplicity and brevity of your code examples.

The ideal sample is one that appears self-evident and immediately comprehensible.