[IPython-dev] Revival of %store (pspersistence)?

[Mark Voorhies]

On Monday, November 01, 2010 01:42:44 pm Robert Kern wrote:
> [PS to everyone: I am on the mailing list. Do not Cc me!]
> 
> On 11/1/10 3:34 PM, Ville M. Vainio wrote:
> > On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 7:24 PM, Robert Kern<robert.kern at gmail.com>  wrote:
> >
> >> Personally, I dislike the %store functionality as it is currently written. Among
> >> other things, I don't like that it restores all of the variables at the start of
> >> the session. Every time I've used it, I've forgotten about the %stored variables
> >> until I begin to investigate why it takes ipython so long to start up.
> >
> > The answer is not to use it for large data.

R saves session data in $PWD/.Rdata and restores it when R is re-invoked from $PWD.
The usual workflow is to have project-specific data directories and invoke R next to
the data that the session will operate on.  R frontends (e.g., ESS for Emacs) support this
workflow by prompting for a working directory when invoked (and R prompts for saving
session data on exit).  Would this be a useful way to make persistent data loading in 
IPython "deliberate but automatic"?

--Mark