But the downside is that I like to use ipython and %run the file and if it's not in a function, I can then inspect all the intermediate variables and not just t

But the downside is that I like to use ipython and %run the file and if it's not in a function, I can then inspect all the intermediate variables and not just the result. Every time I do put it in a function, I regret it for this reason. Of course I could just use a real debugger...