[IPython-dev] rant: "%matplotlib inline"

[William Stein]

Hi,

What do you think the "principle of least surprise" would dictate
should happen if you install matplotlib, then copy an example from [1]
(say) into a new IPython notebook in Python mode?

    [ ] 1. It works

    [ ] 2. It silently fails (the current behavior in IPython notebook).

I'm guessing: pretty much everybody wants 1, but since the kernel
doesn't know if individual commands are coming from a terminal, native
UI, web browser, or what, then we have 2.    Is the longterm plan to
enhance the kernel spec to handle the above situation?

Other systems don't have this problem because one can only interact
with the kernel from either a terminal or a UI, but not both at once.

[1] http://matplotlib.org/examples/pylab_examples/scatter_symbol.html