============= 0.11 Series ============= Release 0.11 ============ IPython 0.11 is a *major* overhaul of IPython, two years in the making. Most of the code base has been rewritten or at least reorganized, breaking backward compatibility with several APIs in previous versions. It is the first major release in two years, and probably the most significant change to IPython since its inception. We plan to have a relatively quick succession of releases, as people discover new bugs and regressions. Once we iron out any significant bugs in this process and settle down the new APIs, this series will become IPython 1.0. We encourage feedback now on the core APIs, which we hope to maintain stable during the 1.0 series. Chris Fonnesbeck recently wrote an `excellent post`_ that highlights some of the core new features, with examples and screenshots. We encourage you to read it as it provides a great high-level overview that complements the detailed feature breakdown in this document. .. _excellent post: http://stronginference.com/weblog/2011/7/15/innovations-in-ipython.html A quick summary of the major changes (see below for details): * *Standalone Qt console*: a new rich console has been added to IPython, started with `ipython qtconsole`. In this application we have tried to retain the feel of a terminal for fast and efficient workflows, while adding many features that a plain text terminal simply can not support, such as inline figures, full multiline editing with syntax highlighting, tooltips for function calls and much more. * *High-level parallel computing with ZeroMQ*. Using the same architecture that our Qt console is based on, we have completely rewritten our high-level parallel computing machinery that in prior versions used the Twisted networking framework. While this change will require users to update their codes, the improvements in performance, memory control and internal consistency across our codebase convinced us it was a price worth paying. We have tried to explain how to best proceed with this update, and will be happy to answer questions that may arise. * *New model for GUI/plotting support in the terminal*. Now instead of the various `-Xthread` flags we had before, GUI support is provided without the use of any threads, by directly integrating GUI event loops with Python's `PyOS_InputHook` API. A new command-line flag `--gui` controls GUI support, and it can also be enabled after IPython startup via the new `%gui` magic. * *A two-process architecture.* The Qt console is the first example of using a new model that splits IPython between a kernel process where code is executed and a client that handles user interaction. We plan on also providing terminal and web-browser based clients using this infrastructure in future releases. This model allows multiple clients to interact with an IPython process through a well-documented protocol using the ZeroMQ networking library. * *Refactoring.* the entire codebase has been refactored, in order to make it more modular and easier to contribute to. IPython has traditionally been a hard project to participate because the old codebase was very monolithic. We hope this (ongoing) restructuring will make it easier for new developers to join us. * *Improved unicode support*. We closed many bugs related to unicode input. * *Python 3*. IPython now runs on Python 3.x. * *New profile model*. Profiles are now directories that contain all relevant infromation for that session, and thus better isolate IPython use-cases. * *SQLite storage for history*. All history is now stored in a SQLite database, providing support for multiple simultaneous sessions that won't clobber each other as well as the ability to perform queries on all stored data. * *New configuration system*. All parts of IPython are now configured via a mechanism inspired by the Enthought Traits library. Any configurable element can have its attributes set either via files that now use real Python syntax or from the command-line. Over 60 separate authors have contributed to this release, see :ref:`below ` for a full list. Plotting and GUI support in the terminal ---------------------------------------- blah Qt Console ---------- blah High-level parallel computing with ZeroMQ ----------------------------------------- Refactoring ----------- As of the 0.11 version of IPython, a signifiant portion of the core has been refactored. This refactoring is founded on a number of new abstractions. The main new classes that implement these abstractions are: * :class:`IPython.utils.traitlets.HasTraits`. * :class:`IPython.config.configurable.Configurable`. * :class:`IPython.config.application.Application`. * :class:`IPython.config.loader.ConfigLoader`. * :class:`IPython.config.loader.Config` We are still in the process of writing developer focused documentation about these classes, but for now our :ref:`configuration documentation ` contains a high level overview of the concepts that these classes express. The biggest user-visible change is likely the move to using the config system to determine the command-line arguments for IPython applications. The benefit of this is that *all* configurable values in IPython are exposed on the command-line, but the syntax for specifying values has changed. The gist is that assigning values is pure Python assignment, so there is always an '=', and never a leading '-', nor a space separating key from value. Flags exist, to set multiple values or boolean flags, and these are always prefixed with '--', and never take arguments. ZMQ architecture ---------------- There is a new GUI framework for IPython, based on a client-server model in which multiple clients can communicate with one IPython kernel, using the ZeroMQ messaging framework. There is already a Qt console client, which can be started by calling ``ipython qtconsole``. The protocol is :ref:`documented `. The parallel computing framework has also been rewritten using ZMQ. The protocol is described :ref:`here `, and the code is in the new :mod:`IPython.parallel` module. Python 3 support ---------------- A Python 3 version of IPython has been prepared. For the time being, this is maintained separately and updated from the main codebase. Its code can be found `here `_. The parallel computing components are not perfect on Python3, but most functionality appears to be working. Unicode ------- Entering non-ascii characters in unicode literals (``u"€ø"``) now works properly on all platforms. However, entering these in byte/string literals (``"€ø"``) will not work as expected on Windows (or any platform where the terminal encoding is not UTF-8, as it typically is for Linux & Mac OS X). You can use escape sequences (``"\xe9\x82"``) to get bytes above 128, or use unicode literals and encode them. This is a limitation of Python 2 which we cannot easily work around. Additional new features ----------------------- * Added ``Bytes`` traitlet, removing ``Str``. All 'string' traitlets should either be ``Unicode`` if a real string, or ``Bytes`` if a C-string. This removes ambiguity and helps the Python 3 transition. * New magic ``%loadpy`` loads a python file from disk or web URL into the current input buffer. * New magic ``%pastebin`` for sharing code via the 'Lodge it' pastebin. * New magic ``%precision`` for controlling float and numpy pretty printing. * IPython applications initiate logging, so any object can gain access to a the logger of the currently running Application with: .. sourcecode:: python from IPython.config.application import Application logger = Application.instance().log * You can now get help on an object halfway through typing a command. For instance, typing ``a = zip?`` shows the details of :func:`zip`. It also leaves the command at the next prompt so you can carry on with it. * The input history is now written to an SQLite database. The API for retrieving items from the history has also been redesigned. * The :mod:`IPython.extensions.pretty` extension has been moved out of quarantine and fully updated to the new extension API. * New magics for loading/unloading/reloading extensions have been added: ``%load_ext``, ``%unload_ext`` and ``%reload_ext``. * The configuration system and configuration files are brand new. See the configuration system :ref:`documentation ` for more details. * The :class:`~IPython.core.interactiveshell.InteractiveShell` class is now a :class:`~IPython.config.configurable.Configurable` subclass and has traitlets that determine the defaults and runtime environment. The ``__init__`` method has also been refactored so this class can be instantiated and run without the old :mod:`ipmaker` module. * The methods of :class:`~IPython.core.interactiveshell.InteractiveShell` have been organized into sections to make it easier to turn more sections of functionality into components. * The embedded shell has been refactored into a truly standalone subclass of :class:`InteractiveShell` called :class:`InteractiveShellEmbed`. All embedding logic has been taken out of the base class and put into the embedded subclass. * Added methods of :class:`~IPython.core.interactiveshell.InteractiveShell` to help it cleanup after itself. The :meth:`cleanup` method controls this. We couldn't do this in :meth:`__del__` because we have cycles in our object graph that prevent it from being called. * Created a new module :mod:`IPython.utils.importstring` for resolving strings like ``foo.bar.Bar`` to the actual class. * Completely refactored the :mod:`IPython.core.prefilter` module into :class:`~IPython.config.configurable.Configurable` subclasses. Added a new layer into the prefilter system, called "transformations" that all new prefilter logic should use (rather than the older "checker/handler" approach). * Aliases are now components (:mod:`IPython.core.alias`). * New top level :func:`~IPython.frontend.terminal.embed.embed` function that can be called to embed IPython at any place in user's code. On the first call it will create an :class:`~IPython.frontend.terminal.embed.InteractiveShellEmbed` instance and call it. In later calls, it just calls the previously created :class:`~IPython.frontend.terminal.embed.InteractiveShellEmbed`. * Created a configuration system (:mod:`IPython.config.configurable`) that is based on :mod:`IPython.utils.traitlets`. Configurables are arranged into a runtime containment tree (not inheritance) that i) automatically propagates configuration information and ii) allows singletons to discover each other in a loosely coupled manner. In the future all parts of IPython will be subclasses of :class:`~IPython.config.configurable.Configurable`. All IPython developers should become familiar with the config system. * Created a new :class:`~IPython.config.loader.Config` for holding configuration information. This is a dict like class with a few extras: i) it supports attribute style access, ii) it has a merge function that merges two :class:`~IPython.config.loader.Config` instances recursively and iii) it will automatically create sub-:class:`~IPython.config.loader.Config` instances for attributes that start with an uppercase character. * Created new configuration loaders in :mod:`IPython.config.loader`. These loaders provide a unified loading interface for all configuration information including command line arguments and configuration files. We have two default implementations based on :mod:`argparse` and plain python files. These are used to implement the new configuration system. * Created a top-level :class:`Application` class in :mod:`IPython.core.application` that is designed to encapsulate the starting of any basic Python program. An application loads and merges all the configuration objects, constructs the main application, configures and initiates logging, and creates and configures any :class:`Configurable` instances and then starts the application running. An extended :class:`BaseIPythonApplication` class adds logic for handling the IPython directory as well as profiles, and all IPython entry points extend it. * The :class:`Type` and :class:`Instance` traitlets now handle classes given as strings, like ``foo.bar.Bar``. This is needed for forward declarations. But, this was implemented in a careful way so that string to class resolution is done at a single point, when the parent :class:`~IPython.utils.traitlets.HasTraitlets` is instantiated. * :mod:`IPython.utils.ipstruct` has been refactored to be a subclass of dict. It also now has full docstrings and doctests. * Created a Traits like implementation in :mod:`IPython.utils.traitlets`. This is a pure Python, lightweight version of a library that is similar to Enthought's Traits project, but has no dependencies on Enthought's code. We are using this for validation, defaults and notification in our new component system. Although it is not 100% API compatible with Enthought's Traits, we plan on moving in this direction so that eventually our implementation could be replaced by a (yet to exist) pure Python version of Enthought Traits. * Added a new module :mod:`IPython.lib.inputhook` to manage the integration with GUI event loops using `PyOS_InputHook`. See the docstrings in this module or the main IPython docs for details. * For users, GUI event loop integration is now handled through the new :command:`%gui` magic command. Type ``%gui?`` at an IPython prompt for documentation. * For developers :mod:`IPython.lib.inputhook` provides a simple interface for managing the event loops in their interactive GUI applications. Examples can be found in our :file:`docs/examples/lib` directory. Backwards incompatible changes ------------------------------ * The Twisted-based :mod:`IPython.kernel` has been removed, and completely rewritten as :mod:`IPython.parallel`, using ZeroMQ. * Profiles are now directories. Instead of a profile being a single config file, profiles are now self-contained directories. By default, profiles get their own IPython history, log files, and everything. To create a new profile, do ``ipython profile create ``. * All IPython applications have been rewritten to use :class:`~IPython.config.loader.KeyValueConfigLoader`. This means that command-line options have changed. Now, all configurable values are accessible from the command-line with the same syntax as in a configuration file. * The command line options ``-wthread``, ``-qthread`` and ``-gthread`` have been removed. Use ``--gui=wx``, ``--gui=qt``, ``--gui=gtk`` instead. * The extension loading functions have been renamed to :func:`load_ipython_extension` and :func:`unload_ipython_extension`. * :class:`~IPython.core.interactiveshell.InteractiveShell` no longer takes an ``embedded`` argument. Instead just use the :class:`~IPython.core.interactiveshell.InteractiveShellEmbed` class. * ``__IPYTHON__`` is no longer injected into ``__builtin__``. * :meth:`Struct.__init__` no longer takes `None` as its first argument. It must be a :class:`dict` or :class:`Struct`. * :meth:`~IPython.core.interactiveshell.InteractiveShell.ipmagic` has been renamed :meth:`~IPython.core.interactiveshell.InteractiveShell.magic.` * The functions :func:`ipmagic` and :func:`ipalias` have been removed from :mod:`__builtins__`. * The references to the global :class:`~IPython.core.interactivehell.InteractiveShell` instance (``_ip``, and ``__IP``) have been removed from the user's namespace. They are replaced by a new function called :func:`get_ipython` that returns the current :class:`~IPython.core.interactiveshell.InteractiveShell` instance. This function is injected into the user's namespace and is now the main way of accessing the running IPython. * Old style configuration files :file:`ipythonrc` and :file:`ipy_user_conf.py` are no longer supported. Users should migrate there configuration files to the new format described :ref:`here ` and :ref:`here `. * The old IPython extension API that relied on :func:`ipapi` has been completely removed. The new extension API is described :ref:`here `. * Support for ``qt3`` has been dropped. Users who need this should use previous versions of IPython. * Removed :mod:`shellglobals` as it was obsolete. * Removed all the threaded shells in :mod:`IPython.core.shell`. These are no longer needed because of the new capabilities in :mod:`IPython.lib.inputhook`. * New top-level sub-packages have been created: :mod:`IPython.core`, :mod:`IPython.lib`, :mod:`IPython.utils`, :mod:`IPython.deathrow`, :mod:`IPython.quarantine`. All existing top-level modules have been moved to appropriate sub-packages. All internal import statements have been updated and tests have been added. The build system (setup.py and friends) have been updated. See :ref:`this section ` of the documentation for descriptions of these new sub-packages. * :mod:`IPython.ipapi` has been moved to :mod:`IPython.core.ipapi`. :mod:`IPython.Shell` and :mod:`IPython.iplib` have been split and removed as part of the refactor. * :mod:`Extensions` has been moved to :mod:`extensions` and all existing extensions have been moved to either :mod:`IPython.quarantine` or :mod:`IPython.deathrow`. :mod:`IPython.quarantine` contains modules that we plan on keeping but that need to be updated. :mod:`IPython.deathrow` contains modules that are either dead or that should be maintained as third party libraries. More details about this can be found :ref:`here `. * Previous IPython GUIs in :mod:`IPython.frontend` and :mod:`IPython.gui` are likely broken, and have been removed to :mod:`IPython.deathrow` because of the refactoring in the core. With proper updates, these should still work. Known Regressions ----------------- We do our best to improve IPython, but there are some known regressions in 0.11 relative to 0.10.2. First of all, there are features that have yet to be ported to the new APIs, and in order to ensure that all of the installed code runs for our users, we have moved them to two separate directories in the source distribution, `quarantine` and `deathrow`. Finally, we have some other miscellaneous regressions that we hope to fix as soon as possible. We now describe all of these in more detail. Quarantine ~~~~~~~~~~ These are tools and extensions that we consider relatively easy to update to the new classes and APIs, but that we simply haven't had time for. Any user who is interested in one of these is encouraged to help us by porting it and submitting a pull request on our `development site`_. .. _development site:: http://github.com/ipython/ipython Currently, the quarantine directory contains:: clearcmd.py ipy_fsops.py ipy_signals.py envpersist.py ipy_gnuglobal.py ipy_synchronize_with.py ext_rescapture.py ipy_greedycompleter.py ipy_system_conf.py InterpreterExec.py ipy_jot.py ipy_which.py ipy_app_completers.py ipy_lookfor.py ipy_winpdb.py ipy_autoreload.py ipy_profile_doctest.py ipy_workdir.py ipy_completers.py ipy_pydb.py jobctrl.py ipy_editors.py ipy_rehashdir.py ledit.py ipy_exportdb.py ipy_render.py pspersistence.py ipy_extutil.py ipy_server.py win32clip.py Deathrow ~~~~~~~~ These packages may be harder to update or make most sense as third-party libraries. Some of them are completely obsolete and have been already replaced by better functionality (we simply haven't had the time to carefully weed them out so they are kept here for now). Others simply require fixes to code that the current core team may not be familiar with. If a tool you were used to is included here, we encourage you to contact the dev list and we can discuss whether it makes sense to keep it in IPython (if it can be maintained). Currently, the deathrow directory contains:: astyle.py ipy_defaults.py ipy_vimserver.py dtutils.py ipy_kitcfg.py numeric_formats.py Gnuplot2.py ipy_legacy.py numutils.py GnuplotInteractive.py ipy_p4.py outputtrap.py GnuplotRuntime.py ipy_profile_none.py PhysicalQInput.py ibrowse.py ipy_profile_numpy.py PhysicalQInteractive.py igrid.py ipy_profile_scipy.py quitter.py* ipipe.py ipy_profile_sh.py scitedirector.py iplib.py ipy_profile_zope.py Shell.py ipy_constants.py ipy_traits_completer.py twshell.py Other ~~~~~ * The machinery that adds functionality to the 'sh' profile for using IPython as your system shell has not been updated to use the new APIs. As a result, only the aesthetic (prompt) changes are still implemented. We intend to fix this by 0.12. * The installation of scripts on Windows was broken without setuptools, so we now depend on setuptools on Windows. We hope to fix setuptools-less installation, and then remove the setuptools dependency. Removed Features ---------------- As part of the updating of IPython, we have removed a few features for the purpsoes of cleaning up the codebase and interfaces. These removals are permanent, but for any item listed below, equivalent functionality is available. * The magics Exit and Quit have been dropped as ways to exit IPython. Instead, the lowercase forms of both work either as a bare name (``exit``) or a function call (``exit()``). You can assign these to other names using exec_lines in the config file. .. credits_:: Credits ------- Many users and developers contributed code, features, bug reports and ideas to this release. Please do not hesitate in contacting us if we've failed to acknowledge your contribution here. In particular, for this release we have contribution from the following people, a mix of new and regular names (in alphabetical order by first name): * Aenugu Sai Kiran Reddy * andy wilson * Antonio Cuni * Barry Wark * Beetoju Anuradha * Benjamin Ragan-Kelley * Brad Reisfeld * Brian E. Granger * Christoph Gohlke * Cody Precord * dan.milstein * Darren Dale * Dav Clark * David Warde-Farley * epatters * epatters * epatters * Eric Firing * Erik Tollerud * Evan Patterson * Fernando Perez * Gael Varoquaux * Gerardo * Jason Grout * John Hunter * Jens Hedegaard Nielsen * Johann Cohen-Tanugi * Jörgen Stenarson * Justin Riley * Kiorky * Laurent Dufrechou * Luis Pedro Coelho * Mani chandra * Mark E. Smith * Mark Voorhies * Martin Spacek * Michael Droettboom * MinRK * muzuiget * Nick Tarleton * Nicolas Rougier * Omar Andres Zapata Mesa * Paul Ivanov * Pauli Virtanen * Prabhu Ramachandran * Ramana * Robert Kern * Sathesh Chandra * Satrajit Ghosh * Sebastian Busch * Stefan van der Walt * Stephan Peijnik * Steven Bethard * Thomas Kluyver * Thomas Spura * Tom Fetherston * Tom MacWright * tzanko * vankayala sowjanya * Vivian De Smedt * Ville M. Vainio * Vishal Vatsa * Vishnu S G * Walter Doerwald .. note:: This list was generated with the output of ``git log dev-0.11 HEAD --format='* %aN <%aE>' | sed 's/@/\-at\-/' | sed 's/<>//' | sort -u`` after some cleanup. If you should be on this list, please add yourself.