[IPython-dev] Improved piping functionality (was: ...dashing for black and white...)

[Fernando Perez]

[ Renaming thread so the subject is more informative ]

> Perhaps we should have a prefilter that considers "series of elements
> separated by | where at least one is in backticks and that don't start
> with a valid system command" as a pipeline where backticks get turned
> to ix()?

I'd suggest trying to keep more inline with the python language, even
at the cost of some syntactic convenience.  My experience is that
otherwise, these rather obscure combinations of special syntax simply
won't be used by absolutely anyone outside 2 or 3 diehards.

One of python's greatest strengths is that its working set 'fits in
cache' very easily (cf. Perl or C++).  I think it's OK that ipython
extends the basic language /somewhat/, but we should try to do so with
a minimal set of easy to remember, reusable ideas.

I know this is not easy, especially because you are running into the
design of the language itself in areas where, for this kind of usage,
it may be less than ideal.  But that's what makes the problem
interesting :)

Just some thoughts...

f