The slickest thing about iPython notebooks is the easy of publishing them
on github (or elsewhere), then sharing the results with the notebook viewer
here: http://nbviewer.ipython.org/ This community could easily use this as
an alternative (or compliment) to gist for sharing small chunks of code.
This has the added benefit of sharing the _output_ of said code alongside
the source. Also, that visual environment is a must when learning highly
graph & chart dependent things like matplotlib & even scikit learn.

The iPython notebook also simplifies shelling: just prefix your line with a
bang (!) and system command lines are right there.

I just finished a "Practical Data Science" course for grad school last
night, and we used iPython heavily throughout the course, both as the
platform for the professors lecture notes, and for doing our homework
assignments.

-Corey


On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 6:03 PM, Sarason,Christian <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> +1 for ipython ‹ it was an easy transition from my MATLAB shell
> programming (for scientific problems) to ipython and the various and
> sundry wonderful part of python overall for scientific programming.  In
> fact, I became so used to the ipython console, when I go to the regular
> python shell now I miss all the goodies (amazing how used to tab
> completion you get used toŠ :D )
>
> Cheers
> Christian
>
> On 12/19/13, 2:55 PM, "Sam Kome" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >iPython is the only console to bother with IMHO, regardless of what chore
> >I'm doing.  I've noodled with the Notebooks and they're wonderful but I
> >am time and attention challenged and haven't progressed far.
> >
> >Eric Matthes uses iPython notebooks to teach programming and has set out
> >some excellent resources:
> >
> >https://github.com/ehmatthes/intro_programming
> >
> >$.02
> >SK
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> >Roy Tennant
> >Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2013 9:49 AM
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: [CODE4LIB] Anyone working with iPython?
> >
> >Our Wikipedian in Residence, Max Klein brought iPython [1] to my
> >attention recently and even in just the little exploration I've done with
> >it so far I'm quite impressed. Although you could call it "interactive
> >Python" that doesn't begin to put across the full range of capabilities,
> >as when I first heard that I thought "Great, a Python shell where you
> >enter a command, hit the return, and it executes. Great. Just what I
> >need. NOT." But I was SO WRONG.
> >
> >It certainly can and does do that, but also so much more. You can enter
> >blocks of code that then execute. Those blocks don't even have to be
> >Python. They can be Ruby or Perl or bash. There are built-in functions of
> >various kinds that it (oddly) calls "magic". But perhaps the killer bit
> >is the idea of "Notebooks" that can capture all of your work in a way
> >that is also editable and completely web-ready. This last part is
> >probably difficult to understand until you experience it.
> >
> >Anyway, i was curious if others have been working with it and if so, what
> >they are using it for. I can think of all kinds of things I might want to
> >do with it, but hearing from others can inspire me further, I'm sure.
> >Thanks,
> >Roy
> >
> >[1] http://ipython.org/
>



-- 
Corey A Harper
Metadata Services Librarian
New York University Libraries
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