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This is an easy to install Mac application to run IPython Notebook. It includes many of the popular scientific Python modules that are commonly used together with IPython.

I wanted something to experiment with short snippets of Python code, something that lets me experiment and iterate quickly, and IPython Notebook is perfect for that. Unfortunately, installing it and all of its dependencies is not straightforward on the Mac, and that's where this application comes in.

Download

Download the application from the Releases page. Make sure to click the download link, not one of the source code package buttons.

Release Notes

Requirements

This application requires OS X 10.9 (“Mavericks”).

Features / Tips

• At your first launch, right after picking a documents folder, open and play with the example document.
• To get back to the notebook list, click the IPython logo, or hit ⌘-W. A second ⌘-W quits the app.
• The application is sandboxed. If your Python code needs access to the file system, you can add files and folders in the Preferences. Some Python API calls might not work because of sandboxing restrictions.
• If you want to add Python modules that are not included in the app or the OS, you can do that by adding directories to the PYTHONPATH in the Preferences.
• You can import .ipynb files that you get from the web or via email. If you double-click them, the application will offer to import them.
• You can export a notebook including all graphics to an HTML file with the File > Export as HTML menu command.

Included Modules

The full list of bundled modules is in the About box. Some of them are:

• IPython
• Numpy
• SciPy
• matplotlib
• pandas
• OpenCV
• scikit-learn
• scikit-image
• bokeh

Examples

The included "Welcome to IPython Notebook" document shows off some of the capabilities.

This public notebook gallery gives you a good idea of the various things, people do with it:

http://nbviewer.ipython.org

Here's a repository of interesting IPython notebooks for even more inspiration:

https://github.com/ipython/ipython/wiki/A-gallery-of-interesting-IPython-Notebooks

Python/Cocoa Experiments

I often use it to try out a Python and/or Cocoa API:

import Foundation
url = Foundation.NSURL.URLWithString_('http://ipython.org/news.html')
print url.path()

→ /news.html

Testing it interactively like this lets you iterate a lot faster than repeatedly compiling code.

Feedback

Send GitHub issues or pull requests, e-mail, or tweets.

Resources

IPython and IPython Notebook

• Introducing IPython
• The History of IPython Notebook

Python Tips

• Code Like a Pythonista: Idiomatic Python
• What's the one code snippet/python trick/etc did you wish you knew when you learned python?
• Learn Python the Hard Way

Alternatives

• IPython Desktop is a node-based implementation that works with an existing/separate IPython installation.