IPython notebook is actually one of the most interesting developments not just in the python world, but in computing generally. It's the first step towards the fully graphical shell on the internet that many of us have been looking for, whether or not we realize it.<p>Being able to weave together text|markdown, tabular data (in almost any format you want) and images ( whether from matplotlib, raw captures, or synthetic assemblies ) in one environment is very powerful.<p>I suspect that with some additional tools IPython notebook will become the integrators workbench <i>par excellence</i>, useful in many contexts.
I was lucky enough to find IPython early on when I started with Python. I'm constantly amazed with its feature set. Some cool things I found useful:<p>The "run" command for running python scripts:<p>* -t to print timing information<p>* -p to print profiling info from profiler module<p>* -d run the script under pdb interactively (with -b to set line breakpoints)<p>* -n to set __name__<p>All of these things can be done fairly easily on their own, but doing it through IPython makes the output so much easier to read and work with.<p>Whenever I'm working with data I need to visualize, I like to use:<p><pre><code> ipython qtconsole --pylab=inline
</code></pre>
to get a terminal-like window that has inline graphs from matplotlib functions.
IPython is extremely useful.<p>I like the qtconsole feature but i find it less than perfect to install:<p>1. pip install ipython
2. <system package manager> install qt4
3. pip install pyside / qt4 bindings<p>The better feature, for me anyway, is the notebook interface (it starts a local web server and gives you a rich web guy, somewhat like a Mathematica idea of interactive notebook editing with inline charting etc.)<p>But, that's a whole other bunch of dependencies that aren't in scope when installing ipython.<p>Not sure of the best fix, offer ipython and ipython-full-stack on PyPI?
The notebook interface is the natural generalisation of the REPL, and has the potential of being reused and copied by other languages (clojure, JavaScript) just as, in offline form, it has been used in Mathematica and Racket for years.
You can try IPython (shell) and IPython Notebook (web interface) online with Wakari at <a href="https://www.wakari.io" rel="nofollow">https://www.wakari.io</a> - platform (with all popular Python scientific libraries installed) that lets you run multiple Python sessions and access them online anywhere. It also allows IPython Notebook sharing - you can share your workflow.
Why does IPython get all the love? I tried it out back in the day, but it was not very impressive. bpython is much better, but doesn't seem to get as much attention.
This is the awesomest news for the day.
It is so much more than a tool purely for the scientific community. I use it for quick fire data analytics codes all the time. Especially when coupled with pandas and matplotlib. pandas can output data in a tabular format directly onto the HTML notebook.<p>If creating forms on the same was a bit more simpler, then it would be biggest boon to a data analyst since excel sheets...dare i say.
It would lead to quick fix applications, rapid prototyping for reporting applications. And it can be hosted and shared directly: <a href="http://nbviewer.ipython.org/" rel="nofollow">http://nbviewer.ipython.org/</a>
I would be wonderful if we could re-use the notebook interface for other language - Octave, Julia, R, Ruby.<p>(Would also be nice if building ipython on OS X was easier!)
When will we hear about PyPy getting a similar amount of funding?<p>It's a great project, and lack of funding has prevented them from delivering on Py3k.
hand-written thank you from me is going out tomorrow to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (<a href="http://www.sloan.org/contact-us/" rel="nofollow">http://www.sloan.org/contact-us/</a>)
It was great to click through and learn that the funding was a grant. With that kind of a number, I thought they had raised a VC round - not that companies working on open source projects is bad, but it is always nice that they don't have to worry about a business model.
This might be a silly question, and perhaps not the place for it, apologies in advance.<p>Love iPython, except for one thing I can't seem to figure out.<p><pre><code> print "Hello World"</code></pre>
hit up arrow to recall previous line, press ctrl+a to try and jump to the beginning of the line but instead my cursor jumps to a new empty line on the right side of the screen?<p>What is going on?! I don't get how this split is supposed to work and it always throws me in it when I least expect it. I just want to do a simple edit to my previous command :(
Thrilled to see this. IPython Notebook has become my go-to tool for data munging and analytics. I look forward to seeing the IPython team take it to the next level.
I'm surprised Python doesn't get more in return. Google, Pinterest, Disqus, ... all these guys have buku funding and use Python heavily. Why not show Python some love? Make the VM up to par with V8.