[IPython-dev] Separating the notebook from the file manager+text editor+terminal

[MinRK]

I think this sounds like a good plan. I’m not 100% sure how to go about
implementing it, though. It would require that our webapp code be a bit
more modular. We took some steps in that direction with 2.0 - Brian and
Zach moved each component into discrete subpackages and URL areas, and are
loaded with a single call to load_handlers. We could extend this a bit
further to something like load_component, and figure out a way to configure
/ register available components.

-MinRK
​


On Sun, Aug 10, 2014 at 5:22 PM, Thomas Kluyver <takowl at gmail.com> wrote:

> We've often said that, for people accessing the notebook on a remote
> server, we need to provide certain basic utilities - like the dashboard,
> which is now under pressure to evolve into a file manager, and an
> in-browser terminal and text editor, both of which we intend to add to the
> notebook.
>
> I propose that we separate development and packaging of the notebook from
> the project to assemble this trio. The new project would live under the
> Jupyter org, and be called something like 'utility-apps'. I see several
> advantages of this:
>
> - A different crowd of developers may be attracted to work on that,
> without having to know anything about the internals of IPython's machinery
> for handling and executing code. For instance, I'm pushing back on turning
> the dashboard into a full blown file manager, because I think that adds a
> lot of extra complexity in a codebase that's already complex, but if it was
> a separate project, it could grow into a file manager without being a
> problem.
> - People running the notebook locally may want to install just the
> notebook component, and not poor web-based clones of applications which
> they have well developed equivalents for already installed.
> - There are lots of potential users of the file manager/text
> editor/terminal trio who probably wouldn't use the notebook: for instance,
> it could be a basic admin interface to any server.
> - It could become a base on which people could write other HTML
> applications to meet their own needs. Following our usual MO, I wouldn't
> try to design it like this straight away, but keep it in mind, and evolve
> the APIs as things mature.
>
> There are still plenty of questions to be answered. How would this new
> component interface with the notebook server? What would the notebook look
> like without the file manager installed? But these could certainly be
> worked out, and I think they're worth working out in order to keep the
> scope of the notebook project in check.
>
> Thomas
>
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