5 ms·

Bpython is a fancy interface to Python

88 points by interro 14y ago

ufo 14y ago
I see BPython has a list of alternative pretty interpreters listed on its page. iPython (that I know of) and DreamPie (that I don 't know of). http://bpython-interpreter.org/alternatives/ http://bpython-interpreter.org/alternatives/ Can anyone say how they all compare to each other?
- belorn 14y ago
  There aren't any comprehensive list that I know of which lists the features of each interpreter. as to bpython vs ipython, last tested it out, bpython still lacked a core feature that ipython has, which is a shell-style history. I can't mention how often I am thinking "hmmm, did'nt I write something like that before", and search backward to find something I wrote a half year ago, or say yesterday...
  - digisign 14y ago
    It always has, with the up arrow. Has a new word search (like ctrl+r) also. Not sure how long the hist is kept though.
    - bobfarrell 14y ago
      You can configure it to store on disk (I believe this is the default). Why do people keep saying "last time I checked bpython didn't do X" when I can't even remember a time when we didn't offer this feature ? :)
darrellsilver 14y ago
This looks like a great way to learn, too! The REPL is a fantastic place to play around. Awesome.
TorbjornLunde 14y ago
Really cool. Does something similar exist for Ruby?
- JonnieCache 14y ago
  http://pryrepl.org/ http://pryrepl.org/ also don't miss https://github.com/nixme/pry-debugger https://github.com/nixme/pry-debugger https://github.com/pry/pry-stack_explorer https://github.com/pry/pry-stack_explorer and https://github.com/pry/pry-exception_explorer https://github.com/pry/pry-exception_explorer amongst others.
anujbans 14y ago
This is awesome :)
knes 14y ago
Just installed it and it is AWESOME! I love the auto indent and auto complete!
gejjaxxita 14y ago
I'm finding it extremely buggy. For example - pressing F8 when no code has been entered yet causes a TypeError. I will post this on the mailing list but considering it's an old (~4yrs?) project I'm surprised such issues haven't been fixed.
- calpaterson 14y ago
  I'm not able to replicate that on my machine. > bpython version 0.10.1 on top of Python 2.7.3
  - gejjaxxita 14y ago
    bpython version 0.12 on top of Python 2.7.3
- sebastinas 14y ago
  That's a bug in 0.12 that slipped in before the release. It's fixed in the hg mercurial and there will be a bugfix release soon.
  - gejjaxxita 14y ago
    great! I'm using pip to install.
andybak 14y ago
Also see iPython. Not as pretty but has an astonishing range of capabilities.
- bobfarrell 14y ago
  +1 (from bpython's author) They just got a huge funding grant so IPython is definitely one to watch.
- wladimir 14y ago
  ipython can also be pretty at least when using the Qt console, for example it can embed pymatlib plots and sympy formulas inline instead of opening them in a window. I'm not sure whether bpython can do this.
buster 14y ago
It's the first thing i install in my virtualenvs. Much better then the standard interactive console and just works out of the box. If you don't want more then tab completion, docstrings and a working command history between sessions it is great! For more stuff, see ipython.
wyuenho 14y ago
This is a great project that's been posted here on HN a couple of times already. I like this project a lot but I can't use it on my Mac because it swallows all the libedit/readline keyboard shortcuts I've come to expect from any REPL. Shame.
- wahnfrieden 14y ago
  Anyone know of a fix?
- bobfarrell 14y ago
  This is one thing I actually have missed - if I'd known about all the nice readline key commands when I first started writing bpython I would've definitely included them. You're welcome to implement this yourself ! Otherwise, I guess it's just a matter of waiting until somebody else has enough time and enthusiasm to do it. Maybe I'll even do it myself one day ...
thauck 14y ago
Bpython is good, but IPython with %edit and knowledge of a command line text editor has changed my workflow[1]. I wish more repls had this ability. [1]: Maybe you can do it Bpython and I'm just not aware.
- JulianWasTaken 14y ago
  I don't know what %edit does, but if I guess that it has something to do with an editor, I use this in my dotfiles: https://github.com/Julian/dotfiles/blob/master/.pythonrc#L55 https://github.com/Julian/dotfiles/blob/master/.pythonrc#L55 which is perfectly REPL agnostic. I prefer bpython over iPython for a bunch of reasons that I can't easily elaborate on from here on my mobile, but is definitely suggest people try them both out.
  - thauck 14y ago
    That's pretty nifty - thanks. EDIT: Also, I have used bpython, but since I use python more on the data side as opposed to web (or something not data) IPython along with everything else make it too good to not use.
    - JulianWasTaken 14y ago
      Yeah. That's where ipython probably hits the sweet spot, so that's reasonable.
- bobfarrell 14y ago
  Hi there. It looks like IPython is definitely the better choice for you - I never wanted to add IDE-like features to bpython; I just wanted it to work the same as the regular shell but with a bunch of nice features on top. If you want something more complex, or something with more specialisation is certain areas then IPython is probably the better choice. Especially with the recent funding they've received I expect it will just get better and better. :)
NelsonMinar 14y ago
You can install bpython with a simple "pip install bpython". (This isn't immediately obvious from the website.)
- wyuenho 14y ago
  I don't know if it's still like that, but last time I checked, I had to invoke python -m bpython.cli instead of just bpython to get autocompletion for packages in your load path. This project hasn't seen any commits since last March. If anyone is up for it, it can really use some help. It's a very promising project and I like it a lot, if only it didn't have those couple of annoyances... Too bad I have no time to contribute, I have 3 projects of my own to deal with...
  - bobfarrell 14y ago
    Hi there, I'm the author of bpython. First thing's first: I'm not sure when you last tried bpython, but simply running "bpython" will provide import completion for your pwd. As for there having been no commits since last March, well I'm not sure where you found that information - please see commit history on bitbucket page: https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/commits https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/commits I started work on bpython about 5 years ago. These days I essentially don't do any work for it, but there are a couple of people who still take care of issues when they have time. It seems most people are pretty much satisfied with the project. If they aren't, I encourage them to either look at the open issues and try to close some of them, or try an alternative like IPython or DreamPie (IPython specifically just got a huge financial grant for development costs so it should be seeing a lot of work being done on it - should be very interesting to see what those guys do). Either way, it just seemed a little odd to me to see bpython described as a "promising project" (after citing two falsehoods about the project) when I personally consider bpython as "complete" to a certain extent (and for any sane meaning of the word in software). Sure there are things I'd like to add, but bpython does exactly what I want and I rarely feel that there is something missing. For those that disagree, either bpython is not for you (there are some great alternatives), or it is time to fork the project and send us your pull requests - we'll be very grateful for them. :) Thanks,
cm127 14y ago
Tried "pip install bpython" on Windows 7, but I get an ImportError: No module named _curses.
- sebastinas 14y ago
  There are instructions to get it working on Windows at [1] and [2]. Please let us know if they work for you. [1] http://docs.bpython-interpreter.org/windows.html http://docs.bpython-interpreter.org/windows.html [2] https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/src/0f88fb19ee697096511d5631b2ce050b27951e48/README.rst?at=default https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/src/0f88fb19ee697096511d5...
- superdude 14y ago
  For Windows users..."pip install bpython" won't work. You must install the Curses binary. I suggest from here: http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#curses http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#curses
Alex3917 14y ago
Quick warning: Bpython crashes if you need to resize the terminal on OS X. And because it truncates the output to what can fit on the screen, it's essentially unusable for things with a long output. (Because if you need to scroll or resize the window to see the full output, it will crash.) It's amazingly good for most things, but occasionally I need to switch back to the default interpreter.
- JulianWasTaken 14y ago
  I can't say I've ever experienced this. I'll certainly try to reproduce when I get home. Also bpython has a pager (F9), so it's definitely fine for long output. The interpreter also will write all output to stdout on quit, so you can do what you'd like then too. I can't say I ever use the vanilla interpreter anymore other than when testing a bpython bug.
  - Alex3917 14y ago
    I just got this when doing print 10xx10000. Sometimes it crashes the first time I resize the terminal, sometimes I need to resize it a few times quickly. If you send me a note I can email you the error I get when it crashes.
    - JulianWasTaken 14y ago
      I believe you :). I'm sure they'd appreciate a bug report if you can narrow things down certainly. Otherwise I'll play around a bit.
    - bobfarrell 14y ago
      I can vouch for us appreciating a bug report. :) I assume you're using an up-to-date version of bpython ? I remember dealing with this kind of stuff a lot in the past (curses is terrible at this kind of thing) and I had considered it fixed, so please do send us bug reports if possible. (https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/issues?status=new&status=open https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/issues?status=new&sta...)
  - 14y ago
ddonline 14y ago
Oh you fancy huh? Nice work!

88 points by interro 14y ago

ufo 14y ago

I see BPython has a list of alternative pretty interpreters listed on its page. iPython (that I know of) and DreamPie (that I don 't know of). http://bpython-interpreter.org/alternatives/ http://bpython-interpreter.org/alternatives/ Can anyone say how they all compare to each other?

belorn 14y ago
There aren't any comprehensive list that I know of which lists the features of each interpreter. as to bpython vs ipython, last tested it out, bpython still lacked a core feature that ipython has, which is a shell-style history. I can't mention how often I am thinking "hmmm, did'nt I write something like that before", and search backward to find something I wrote a half year ago, or say yesterday...
- digisign 14y ago
  It always has, with the up arrow. Has a new word search (like ctrl+r) also. Not sure how long the hist is kept though.
  - bobfarrell 14y ago
    You can configure it to store on disk (I believe this is the default). Why do people keep saying "last time I checked bpython didn't do X" when I can't even remember a time when we didn't offer this feature ? :)

darrellsilver 14y ago

This looks like a great way to learn, too! The REPL is a fantastic place to play around. Awesome.

TorbjornLunde 14y ago

Really cool. Does something similar exist for Ruby?

JonnieCache 14y ago
http://pryrepl.org/ http://pryrepl.org/ also don't miss https://github.com/nixme/pry-debugger https://github.com/nixme/pry-debugger https://github.com/pry/pry-stack_explorer https://github.com/pry/pry-stack_explorer and https://github.com/pry/pry-exception_explorer https://github.com/pry/pry-exception_explorer amongst others.

anujbans 14y ago

This is awesome :)

knes 14y ago

Just installed it and it is AWESOME! I love the auto indent and auto complete!

gejjaxxita 14y ago

I'm finding it extremely buggy. For example - pressing F8 when no code has been entered yet causes a TypeError. I will post this on the mailing list but considering it's an old (~4yrs?) project I'm surprised such issues haven't been fixed.

calpaterson 14y ago
I'm not able to replicate that on my machine. > bpython version 0.10.1 on top of Python 2.7.3
- gejjaxxita 14y ago
  bpython version 0.12 on top of Python 2.7.3
sebastinas 14y ago
That's a bug in 0.12 that slipped in before the release. It's fixed in the hg mercurial and there will be a bugfix release soon.
- gejjaxxita 14y ago
  great! I'm using pip to install.

andybak 14y ago

Also see iPython. Not as pretty but has an astonishing range of capabilities.

bobfarrell 14y ago
+1 (from bpython's author) They just got a huge funding grant so IPython is definitely one to watch.
wladimir 14y ago
ipython can also be pretty at least when using the Qt console, for example it can embed pymatlib plots and sympy formulas inline instead of opening them in a window. I'm not sure whether bpython can do this.

buster 14y ago

It's the first thing i install in my virtualenvs. Much better then the standard interactive console and just works out of the box. If you don't want more then tab completion, docstrings and a working command history between sessions it is great! For more stuff, see ipython.

wyuenho 14y ago

This is a great project that's been posted here on HN a couple of times already. I like this project a lot but I can't use it on my Mac because it swallows all the libedit/readline keyboard shortcuts I've come to expect from any REPL. Shame.

wahnfrieden 14y ago
Anyone know of a fix?
bobfarrell 14y ago
This is one thing I actually have missed - if I'd known about all the nice readline key commands when I first started writing bpython I would've definitely included them. You're welcome to implement this yourself ! Otherwise, I guess it's just a matter of waiting until somebody else has enough time and enthusiasm to do it. Maybe I'll even do it myself one day ...

thauck 14y ago

Bpython is good, but IPython with %edit and knowledge of a command line text editor has changed my workflow[1]. I wish more repls had this ability. [1]: Maybe you can do it Bpython and I'm just not aware.

JulianWasTaken 14y ago
I don't know what %edit does, but if I guess that it has something to do with an editor, I use this in my dotfiles: https://github.com/Julian/dotfiles/blob/master/.pythonrc#L55 https://github.com/Julian/dotfiles/blob/master/.pythonrc#L55 which is perfectly REPL agnostic. I prefer bpython over iPython for a bunch of reasons that I can't easily elaborate on from here on my mobile, but is definitely suggest people try them both out.
- thauck 14y ago
  That's pretty nifty - thanks. EDIT: Also, I have used bpython, but since I use python more on the data side as opposed to web (or something not data) IPython along with everything else make it too good to not use.
  - JulianWasTaken 14y ago
    Yeah. That's where ipython probably hits the sweet spot, so that's reasonable.
bobfarrell 14y ago
Hi there. It looks like IPython is definitely the better choice for you - I never wanted to add IDE-like features to bpython; I just wanted it to work the same as the regular shell but with a bunch of nice features on top. If you want something more complex, or something with more specialisation is certain areas then IPython is probably the better choice. Especially with the recent funding they've received I expect it will just get better and better. :)

NelsonMinar 14y ago

You can install bpython with a simple "pip install bpython". (This isn't immediately obvious from the website.)

wyuenho 14y ago
I don't know if it's still like that, but last time I checked, I had to invoke python -m bpython.cli instead of just bpython to get autocompletion for packages in your load path. This project hasn't seen any commits since last March. If anyone is up for it, it can really use some help. It's a very promising project and I like it a lot, if only it didn't have those couple of annoyances... Too bad I have no time to contribute, I have 3 projects of my own to deal with...
- bobfarrell 14y ago
  Hi there, I'm the author of bpython. First thing's first: I'm not sure when you last tried bpython, but simply running "bpython" will provide import completion for your pwd. As for there having been no commits since last March, well I'm not sure where you found that information - please see commit history on bitbucket page: https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/commits https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/commits I started work on bpython about 5 years ago. These days I essentially don't do any work for it, but there are a couple of people who still take care of issues when they have time. It seems most people are pretty much satisfied with the project. If they aren't, I encourage them to either look at the open issues and try to close some of them, or try an alternative like IPython or DreamPie (IPython specifically just got a huge financial grant for development costs so it should be seeing a lot of work being done on it - should be very interesting to see what those guys do). Either way, it just seemed a little odd to me to see bpython described as a "promising project" (after citing two falsehoods about the project) when I personally consider bpython as "complete" to a certain extent (and for any sane meaning of the word in software). Sure there are things I'd like to add, but bpython does exactly what I want and I rarely feel that there is something missing. For those that disagree, either bpython is not for you (there are some great alternatives), or it is time to fork the project and send us your pull requests - we'll be very grateful for them. :) Thanks,

cm127 14y ago

Tried "pip install bpython" on Windows 7, but I get an ImportError: No module named _curses.

sebastinas 14y ago
There are instructions to get it working on Windows at [1] and [2]. Please let us know if they work for you. [1] http://docs.bpython-interpreter.org/windows.html http://docs.bpython-interpreter.org/windows.html [2] https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/src/0f88fb19ee697096511d5631b2ce050b27951e48/README.rst?at=default https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/src/0f88fb19ee697096511d5...
superdude 14y ago
For Windows users..."pip install bpython" won't work. You must install the Curses binary. I suggest from here: http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#curses http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#curses

Alex3917 14y ago

Quick warning: Bpython crashes if you need to resize the terminal on OS X. And because it truncates the output to what can fit on the screen, it's essentially unusable for things with a long output. (Because if you need to scroll or resize the window to see the full output, it will crash.) It's amazingly good for most things, but occasionally I need to switch back to the default interpreter.

JulianWasTaken 14y ago
I can't say I've ever experienced this. I'll certainly try to reproduce when I get home. Also bpython has a pager (F9), so it's definitely fine for long output. The interpreter also will write all output to stdout on quit, so you can do what you'd like then too. I can't say I ever use the vanilla interpreter anymore other than when testing a bpython bug.
- Alex3917 14y ago
  I just got this when doing print 10xx10000. Sometimes it crashes the first time I resize the terminal, sometimes I need to resize it a few times quickly. If you send me a note I can email you the error I get when it crashes.
  - JulianWasTaken 14y ago
    I believe you :). I'm sure they'd appreciate a bug report if you can narrow things down certainly. Otherwise I'll play around a bit.
  - bobfarrell 14y ago
    I can vouch for us appreciating a bug report. :) I assume you're using an up-to-date version of bpython ? I remember dealing with this kind of stuff a lot in the past (curses is terrible at this kind of thing) and I had considered it fixed, so please do send us bug reports if possible. (https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/issues?status=new&status=open https://bitbucket.org/bobf/bpython/issues?status=new&sta...)
- 14y ago

ddonline 14y ago

Oh you fancy huh? Nice work!