[IPython-dev] Refactoring prefilter and ipython1

[Brian Granger]

Hi,

Dan has been looking at refactoring prefilter lately - this began with
a very nice test suite for the existing one.  I have a question about
this.

Should Dan's target be to rework the prefilter that is in trunk?  Or
should he focus on implementing something from scratch that may have a
completely different architecture (than prefilter).  This approach
would be more focused on moving the prefilter capabilities from trunk
over to ipython1.  This second approach would allow us to start anew
and really think about how ipython does input parsing.  For instance,
it may make sense to build something that doesn't even have a
"prefilter" method that resembles the current one.

The current class (that prefilter is a part of) began as a subclass of
code.InteractiveConsole.  But as we move forward with ipython1, there
is no reason to hold to that tradition.  In fact, it may make more
sense to move away from that - especially as the old version is
inextricably tied to the terminal - a constraint which ipython1
cant'/won't have.  Also, the configuration system that ipython1 uses
is completely different that the hooks that are in trunk.

I can see advantages of both options here.  What do people think?

Cheers,

Brian