[IPython-dev] Improved piping functionality (was: ...dashing for black and white...)

[Walter Dörwald]

Fernando Perez wrote:

> [ Renaming thread so the subject is more informative ]
> 
>> Perhaps we should have a prefilter that considers "series of elements
>> separated by | where at least one is in backticks and that don't start
>> with a valid system command" as a pipeline where backticks get turned
>> to ix()?
> 
> I'd suggest trying to keep more inline with the python language, even
> at the cost of some syntactic convenience.  My experience is that
> otherwise, these rather obscure combinations of special syntax simply
> won't be used by absolutely anyone outside 2 or 3 diehards.

I can live with ix("foo") instead of `foo` (that's why I choose a short
class name).

To be able to use ix() inside a pipeline expression, there's still some
work to be done anyway: If the ix() object has an input pipe, the
strings from the input pipe must be written to the pipe's stdin.

> One of python's greatest strengths is that its working set 'fits in
> cache' very easily (cf. Perl or C++).  I think it's OK that ipython
> extends the basic language /somewhat/, but we should try to do so with
> a minimal set of easy to remember, reusable ideas.
> 
> I know this is not easy, especially because you are running into the
> design of the language itself in areas where, for this kind of usage,
> it may be less than ideal.  But that's what makes the problem
> interesting :)

So far ipipe doesn't use a prefilter hook. If ipipe ever grows one, the
basic functionality should stay usable, i.e. it should still be possible
to input the pipe expression as plain Python syntax.

Servus,
   Walter