[IPython-dev] IPython development news and prospects

[Gael Varoquaux]

On Tue, Jan 15, 2008 at 12:11:15PM -0700, Fernando Perez wrote:
> The idea is to write a very lightweight, Traits-like module that does
> only a fraction of what Traits does, but does so with 100% api
> compatibility within that subset.  Basically we'd only implement

> - Validation of types (probably only for a very small subset of types
> like strings, numbers and lists)
> - Simple registration of callbacks (listeners), so that changes to
> configuration can trigger the appropriate callbacks to update other
> things.

Very interesting. I think there is no way you could use Traits as
extensively as we use it in Traits-based project, doing reactive
programming using Traits callback. However, for a small use, this seems
like a good idea.

I wonder whether you shouldn't simply try to patch Traits, as there is
only one C file. So you could provide a replacement to it. I don't know
what Dave Morrill (the author of Traits, for those who do not know) would
think about this, but I think it would be a good idea.

My 2 cents,

Gaël