docs/source/about/history.txt

.. _history:

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History
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Origins
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IPython was starting in 2001 by Fernando Perez while he was a graduate student
at the University of Colorado, Boulder. IPython as we know it today grew out
of the following three projects:

* ipython by Fernando Pérez. Fernando began using Python and ipython began as
  an outgrowth of his desire for things like Mathematica-style prompts, access
  to previous output (again like Mathematica's % syntax) and a flexible
  configuration system (something better than :envvar:`PYTHONSTARTUP`).
* IPP by Janko Hauser. Very well organized, great usability. Had
  an old help system. IPP was used as the "container" code into
  which Fernando added the functionality from ipython and LazyPython.
* LazyPython by Nathan Gray. Simple but very powerful. The quick
  syntax (auto parens, auto quotes) and verbose/colored tracebacks
  were all taken from here.

Here is how Fernando describes the early history of IPython:

    When I found out about IPP and LazyPython I tried to join all three
    into a unified system. I thought this could provide a very nice
    working environment, both for regular programming and scientific
    computing: shell-like features, IDL/Matlab numerics, Mathematica-type
    prompt history and great object introspection and help facilities. I
    think it worked reasonably well, though it was a lot more work than I
    had initially planned.