That was an excellent history that I was really happy to read. :) Thank you.
On Wed, Feb 15, 2017 at 4:40 PM, John Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > All, > > After the recent, exciting announcement of the eminent [JupyterCon > <https://conferences.oreilly.com/jupyter/jup-ny>], I was somewhat > saddened to see no mention of the EIN, or the Emacs IPython Notebook, as an > available client to the Jupyter notebook server. Drama queen that I am, I > quickly wrote a note to Fernando, who patiently and kindly explained that > not many were aware that this project still existed and that perhaps an > announcement or note to the main Jupyter list might be warranted. Hence the > following, brief history. I also promise to try to not be a drama queen. > > Some of you may remember, from back when the Jupyter project was still > known as the [IPython notebook > <http://ipython.org/ipython-doc/rel-0.12/interactive/htmlnotebook.html>], > a talented and prolific coder of the name Takafumi Arakaki, or tkf, who > created an alternative client to the notebook server's default web browser > interface. > > This client, which he called the Emacs IPython Notebook (you can still > find his project on [github > <https://github.com/tkf/emacs-ipython-notebook>]), or EIN, provided a > complete ipython notebook experience in the venerable Emacs editor. Not > only was EIN nearly [feature complete > <https://github.com/tkf/emacs-ipython-notebook/wiki/Screenshots>] when > compared to the browser interface it also provided some useful features for > the Python programmer, like allowing one to [connect > <https://github.com/tkf/emacs-ipython-notebook/wiki/Screenshots#connected-buffer>] > Python buffers to a notebook and using jedi for autocompletion in the > notebook buffer. > > Around March/April of 2014, just as IPython was advancing towards 1.0 and > making big changes in the notebook/contents API and the kernel > communication protocol, tkf mysteriously stopped pushing commits to his > github repository. > > I did not know tkf other than from a couple brief conversations. I > sincerely hope tkf's story has a happy end (he does appear to still push > the occasional [commit <https://github.com/tkf/comparatist>]); he is > clearly a talented programmer and without him this impressive piece of > software would not exist. > > This is the point where yours truly enters the story. I had discovered the > IPython notebook the previous year and had found it an exteremly useful for > analyzing the performance of catalytic process units in the refining > industry and for working with Python in general, but being a long-time > Emacs user I had somewhat bounced of the web interface. Discovering EIN was > a godsend, and it quickly became a mainstay in my set of analytic tools. > > Unfortunately the changes in going to v1.0 of the ipython notebook broke > EIN, and with tkf apparently out of the picture there did not seem much > hope in EIN staying compatible. Considering that I am a father of two with > a full-time job that has absolutely nothing to do with programming (and yet > I am a long-time Emacs user - it's complicated, don't ask), I can only > describe what happened next as an act of complete insanity: I decided to > fork tkf's code, dig in and try to keep up with the changes in ipython. > > Truthfully, no one was more surprised than I when I was actually able to > keep ein working with versions 1.0 and, soon after, 2.0 of IPython. In fact > that compatibility, in theory, is still in the code. One, again in theory, > should be able to fire up a 1.x or 2.x version of the IPython notebook and > connect to it using my fork of EIN. I say in theory, though, as I haven't > touched that part of the code in some time and it undoubtedly has suffered > some bit rot in the intervening years. > > The rest of the story is less interesting. Eventually I managed to > convince github and MELPA to treat my repository as the official version of > ein. There was some short-lived talk of renaming my fork to 'zwei', but the > consensus was that things were confusing enough with the change in > ownership and to keep the name as ein. > > Currently one can download ein through either [MELPA > <http://melpa.org/#/ein>] or [el-get <https://github.com/dimitri/el-get>], > and someone has even been kind enough to create a spacemacs [layer > <http://spacemacs.org/layers/+lang/ipython-notebook/README.html>] with > convenient VIM keybindings for the heathens. > > At the moment EIN supports the recent incarnations of Jupyter, v4.3.1, > token authentication, _xsrf cookies and all. By the time you read this I > may even have pushed some commits that allow one to start and automatically > log in to a jupyter notebook server all from Emacs without having to drop > into the terminal. > > In all, EIN continues to be a viable alternative to the web browser > client. It is not 100% feature complete, though, as it notably does not > support widgets and quite possibly never will. > > I haven't kept close track of who is using EIN, but it has 341 stars on > github and 28,175 downloads from MELPA. I know EIN is being used in at > least a couple businesses and from what I have heard it tends to be more > popular among those with a programming background - scientists and > engineers tend to prefer the web client which is not surprising since Emacs > is not so much a text editor as it is a Way of (Un)Life. > > I encourage anyone who is interested in trying out ein to install it via > MELPA or from the spacemacs ipython-notebook layer. There is [ > documentation <http://millejoh.github.io/emacs-ipython-notebook/>], but > it is not perfect and I cannot guarantee it is 100% correct. Do not > hesitate to open an [issue > <https://github.com/millejoh/emacs-ipython-notebook/issues>] on github if > you run into troubles, this is a hobby project but I do my best to support > it. > > If you have made it this far then my sincere thanks for staying patient > through my ramblings. As a parting thought I want to express my sincere > thanks to Takafumi Arakaki, wherever he may be, and to the [Jupyter > <http://jupyter.org/about.html>] team for their fantastic work in > creating this amazing piece of software. > > > John Miller > > > > > [JupyterCon] https://conferences.oreilly.com/jupyter/jup-ny > > [IPython notebook] http://ipython.org/ipython-doc/rel-0.12/interactive/ > htmlnotebook.html > > [github] https://github.com/tkf/emacs-ipython-notebook > > [feature complete] https://github.com/tkf/emacs-ipython-notebook/wiki/ > Screenshots > > [connect] https://github.com/tkf/emacs-ipython-notebook/wiki/ > Screenshots#connected-buffer > > [commit] https://github.com/tkf/comparatist > > [MELPA] http://melpa.org/#/ein > > [el-get] https://github.com/dimitri/el-get > > [layer] http://spacemacs.org/layers/+lang/ipython-notebook/README.html > > [documentation] http://millejoh.github.io/emacs-ipython-notebook/ > > [issue] https://github.com/millejoh/emacs-ipython-notebook/issues > > [Jupyter] http://jupyter.org/about.html > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Project Jupyter" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/ > msgid/jupyter/b02c2297-ae59-4461-adad-646349e7bc14%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jupyter/b02c2297-ae59-4461-adad-646349e7bc14%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Kyle Kelley (@rgbkrk <https://twitter.com/rgbkrk>; lambdaops.com) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Project Jupyter" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jupyter/CA%2BtbMaW2ZBEYBq3BPRE6dDaTOhfiyi-h07cpu%2BBtL%2BVEgSnMgA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
