Using IPython as a shell

Scientists, data analysts, and engineers are used to experimenting. IPython was created by scientists with experimentation in mind. The interactive environment that IPython provides is viewed by many as a direct answer to MATLAB, Mathematica, and Maple.

The following is a list of features of the IPython shell:

  • Tab completion, which helps you find a command
  • History mechanism
  • Inline editing
  • Ability to call external Python scripts with %run
  • Access to system commands
  • The pylab switch
  • Access to the Python debugger and profiler

The following list describes how to use the IPython shell:

  • The pylab switch: The pylab switch automatically imports all the Scipy, NumPy, and matplotlib packages. Without this switch, we would have to import these ...

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