[IPython-dev] updated notebook development roadmap?

Brian Granger ellisonbg at gmail.com
Thu Jul 12 11:37:08 EDT 2012


Chris,

You are reading our minds...

On Fri, Jul 6, 2012 at 8:18 AM, Chris Kees <cekees at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been going over the IPython 0.14.dev docs and my archive of this
> list as part of an effort to change the way I'm doing several things.
> I know how hard it is to keep documentation up to date and keep a
> wider community informed of a complex vision so I'm not complaining,
> but I'm hoping to get some clarification on where things are headed on
> the follow capabilities (sorry in advance if I've missed answers to
> these in the docs or discussion list):
>
> -editing in the notebook: I'd like to start developing more complex
> content in the notebook, and so I need better emacs keybinding support
> among other things. I saw the recent threads on ACE vs CodeMirror and
> even more recently on another push to improve the CodeMirror config
> (vim at least). Has it been decided that CodeMirror is the way
> forward, and if so will the editor support be configurable from the
> notebook interface or does it have to be done server side? Anybody
> have quick instructions on how to add emacs bindings even if it's a
> hack?

Unfortunately,  we can't use ACE as it has a fatal contraint: there
can only be one ACE editor on the page.  Also, we have found that both
CodeMirror and ACE are moving quickly and it is not clear that ACE is
really better than CodeMirror.  But we do want to improve our key
bindings for CodeMirror.

> -multiuser support: I'm currently using sage for teaching, workshops,
> and various demos.  I really need the multiuser and sharing support
> for those activities. I also need multiuser because our package
> (proteus), and it's dependencies can be very difficult for new users
> to build so one way to get around that is just providing accounts on
> our sage server.  On the other hand, after testing out Carl Smith's
> notebook cloud, I can see a potential path to more general (and
> secure) multiuser support by simply using amazon machine images and
> pushing the user management responsibilities off on Amazon or in-house
> IT services.  I should note that both approaches solving a problem
> that may not have been discussed widely, which is making government
> "certified" engineering tools available to the public in a reliable
> way. Anyway, has the approach been decided and is there a timeline for
> multiuser support? Also, is there any kind of discussion or roadmap
> for coordination between sage notebook development and ipython
> development? I've see posts mentioning sharing features but nothing
> beyond that.

Yes, multiuser support is an absolute critical part of our vision.
Just a matter of time and money...

> -notebook sharing: If the notebook cloud approach takes off, then it
> seems like a sharing mechanism outside of the notebook server will be
> required even if multiuser support is added to the server.  These days
> it seems like most web apps have a share button that can at a minimum
> email a document.  It seems like integration with google drive or even
> G+ could be handy.

Yes, this is also important and we have ideas on how to tackle this.

> -version control: Currently I'm just using git commands in a cell, but
> it seems like this would be relatively easy to add to the file menu.
> Is there a plan to add version control menus to the notebook?

So far our philosophy on this is to let git do what it is good at.  We
are not too interested in developing an entire git UI in the notebook
- that seems redundant and out of scope.  We have talked about making
a small "shell widget" that can be used to issue git commands so you
don't have to create a new cell for these things.

> -slide show mode: Another handy capability that was discussed on the
> list a while ago.  Any new development?

Also a new PR on this as well:

https://github.com/ipython/ipython/pull/2127

This is very important to us...

> -interactive widgets:  I'd like to start working on these as soon as
> possible, and it looks like Brian's pull request is closed. I'm
> guessing the support is in the main branch. Are there some examples of
> interactive javascript widgets that work with the main branch (Min's
> gist of a flot with bessel functions isn't working for me)?

All of the Javascript pieces are in place for this, but we don't have
any examples really yet.  Also high priority though.

Cheers,

Brian

> Thanks,
> Chris
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-- 
Brian E. Granger
Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
bgranger at calpoly.edu and ellisonbg at gmail.com



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