[IPython-dev] New GUI integration in IPython

[Brian Granger]

> Two questions on this change:
>
> 1-) No more auto explicit numpy.core and matplotlib.pyplot load into the
> visible namespace right? This was a handy functionality to make quick tests,
> without a need for imports. I am sure this could be remedied putting proper
> statements somewhere into the config file, however with the switches removed
> how to instantiate IPython telling that I want matplotlib and numpy
> functionality in my shell.
>
>
As Fernando mentions, something like the old -pylab switch with be there.
My own preference is to make it a magic like:

In [1]: %pylab

To emphasize that it is not something you *have* to choose at startup.  But
we will definitely have something like this.


> 2-) No thread options gone, each time we issue a plot directive, a show()
> must be explicitly stated. I will miss this lazy way of programming :)
>
>
This will be fixed as matploblib adds that takes advantages of the new
capabilities.  Currently, that matplotlib works with this new approach is
almost chance.  But, once matplotlib uses this new stuff, we can make sure
that everything works exactly as everyone wants and is used to.


> 3-) What are the visible ad[dis]vantages of these changes to a simple user
> :) Those who don't integrate Ipython into a GUI application and changing
> backends very frequently.
>
>
These changes don't affect IPython being embedded into a GUI, only the
terminal based IPython's integration with GUI event loops.  But, the main
differences to a simple user are:

* Don't have to remember to do -pylab when you start IPython to do
plotting.  At any point after starting IPython, you can enable this.
* Control-C works robustly on all platforms and all GUI toolkits -
stability, yah!  Some of our users couldn't use certain GUI toolkits on
certain platforms (Fernando was in this situation with wx+liunx) because on
these problems.
* As matplotlib integrates this stuff, they will be able to offer richer and
more stable APIs for interactive plotting.

Cheers,

Brian


> Thanks
> --
> Gökhan
>
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