Embedding Sho / Ironpython 2.7 support

Question

First of all thanks for Sho. It's sweet interactive environment reminds me very much of ipython on cpython, and i love the graphing features.

I would love to embed the interactive interpreter into my C# application and use Sho to do runtime data-analysis. I know there is a limited facility to embed Sho in the current version, but it seems to be missing some key features of the standalone interactive interpreter (tab completion, etc..) Any plans to turn the full interactive interpreter into a custom component that one can just drop into a dotnet app?

Also any plans to move to ironpython 2.7 (-:

Thanks in advance for your support.

Sandy

Answer 1

Seconded on IPy 2.7 - would love to see that!

Answer 2

Thanks Sandy for your kinds words about Sho and for your question!  You're quite right, the console available from EmbeddedSho is very limited compared to the full Sho Console.  It was meant to be a very lightweight debugging mechanism for investigating the EmbeddedSho's state while the host program was running; we've actually found it quite useful for debugging.  We have thought using the Sho Console for this purpose instead, but it turns out to be fairly complex due to its threading model and various other things.  Not impossible, just complex :)  I can't promise we'll eventually switch over to the Sho Console, but it's good to get your feedback on this; we'll keep it in mind as we think about improvements for Sho moving forward.

As for IronPython, we're thinking about that too.  Stay tuned for updates on that front!

Answer 3

I'd also like to say 2.7 IronPython support would be very important to me.  Currently I have scipy.net and numpy.net working with VS2010 Python tools but I really want to use the simple plotting tools that Sho offers. Unfortunatley the VS2010 tools only support 2.7 Ironpython, so to get a full solution for everything I need for scripting on .NET (compsci routines, intellisense, debug, plotting) would require Sho over 2.7 Ironpython or use Zedgraph/NPlot/MSCharts etc.  I can currently do all this in Labview but it is expensive and I quite dislike it.  I can get pretty far with CPython (scipy/numpy/matplotlib) but most of my control libs for lab devices are over .NET.  There are others like me with the same views that prefer scripting for lab test and I can picture this being quite a head turner for the test and measurement world and gives alternatives to National Instruments products. 

Answer 4

I would like to vouch for a enhanced embedded Sho console too. I find myself using Sho more and more (great tool, btw!) - having intellisense/tab-completition would be really useful.