Friday, June 14, 2013

GSFC Python Bootcamp

I took the 3-day Python Bootcamp at NASA Goddard, which was based on a similar course at Berkeley.

It was darned useful.

One of many things I learned is that Ipython makes life better:
  • "whose"  #tells you what variables are defined
  • %lsmagic  # lists all magic functions
  • %quickref  # quick reference in ipython
  • %reset      # clear all the variables.  Faster than exiting, restarting
  • %history -f logfile.out  # save history to a file
  • %save -f saved_work.py  # save work to a file
  • %run saved_work.py       # load that work back in  
  • %pdb    # turn on the Python debugger
  • %load_ext rmagic  #run R statistics package
  • %%!    # work in the shell for a while, until blankline [enter]
  • ipython --pylab        #automatically loads numpy as np, matplotlib.pylab as plt
  • typing mystring.[Tab][Tab] tells me what methods are available to work on mystring.  
I may copy over more from my notes later.

I wish there had been expanded content about matplotlib, scipy, and pyfits.  Maybe we should organize an astronomy bonus session later this summer.

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