[IPython-dev] Enhanced IPython Help

Fernando Perez fperez.net at gmail.com
Tue Nov 20 12:48:45 EST 2007


Hi Steven,

On Nov 18, 2007 11:50 PM, Ville M. Vainio <vivainio at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 17, 2007 4:39 AM, Steven H. Rogers <steve at shrogers.com> wrote:
>
> > Unless someone has a better idea, I'm planning to extend "?" such that
> > if the search string isn't found in the local namespace, modules in
> > PYTHONPATH are searched for a match.  I'm looking at `pyndexter
> > <http://swapoff.org/pyndexter>`_ for indexing and searching.  Any ideas
> > welcome.  Should work from the IPython or IPython1 svn repositories?

Many thanks for keeping an eye on this idea.  I really think it will
make a big difference in usability for everyone to have nice, well
integrated help available interactively.

I see from

http://swapoff.org/browser/pyndexter/trunk/COPYING

that the pyndexter license is BSD, which is great.

Given that the current interactive response to things like '?' is only
implemented in the main IPython (not '1') repo, you should work from
there.  I'll be happy to give you SVN access to make a branch if you
find that you need it, until the work is ready for merging into trunk.

> As I see it, you should make it as IPython-independent as possible,
> and then we'll add small wrappers to both IPython branches (probably
> as Extensions).

The bulk of it should definitely be as self-contained and modular as
possible, but if you find that depending on any of ipython makes life
easier for you, don't be afraid to.  By this I mean that if

from IPython import something

helps your project, go ahead and do it freely.  As far as wiring it
into the interactive behavior, there it definitely makes sense to have
your code be in its own module(s), and then simply wire a line or two
into the ipython help code to call out to your module.

Cheers,

f



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