ShowMeDo

ShowMeDo IPython videos

The ShowMeDo website by Ian Ozsvald and Kyran Dale provides instructional videos on a number of topics, and they have a series of them devoted to IPython.

This page can serve as a repository of ideas for new videos whose focus is IPython. If you have ideas for new videos or a ‘script’ on what one of them can contain post it here even if you don’t have the time to make it yourself. Someone else may be able to pick up the ball and finish it.

Ideas

Using IPython as command shell

(also showcase new features; will probably show with svn version)

• Launch with sh profile
• Show bookmarks, cd -b <tab>, cd -<tab> completion
• Declare and %store aliases, %rehashdir, %rehashx, %which
• Custom completers (hg, svn etc)
• %hist -g, %rep

A note about ShowMeDo

(Ian at ShowMeDo.com) The videos I made for IPython are a bit long in the tooth now, it would be great if someone could make one or more videos which show off IPython’s strengths. I’m very happy to assist at a technical level, having helped with the production of 50 or so ‘casts (and made a fair number myself) I’ve taken most of the brain damage now.

A new user could be up and making screencasts within an hour, as long as they had a mic, and the software is open source for Windows and Linux (and pretty cheap for a Mac). The old perception that making videos is hard is simply no longer true :-)

We handle all of the transcoding, hosting and getting the word out, what we need is people who have the skills to share some of that knowledge. A collaborative effort here to discuss the features that could be displayed, leading to a rough script(s), would make for an ideal starting point. If you’re curious about the process, just ping me (ian@showmedo.com) and I’ll answer your questions.

We have screencasts showing you how to use Cam Studio (Windows) and pyvnc2swf (Linux) here along with notes on how to make a screencast.