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Why is this such a bad idea? (According to many people)

Jarred Sumner
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    Python **is** a shell. What are you asking? What does "according to many people" mean? Can you provide a link or a reference? – S.Lott Aug 04 '10 at 22:17
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    Probably only according to some diehard freaks who must write *everything* in C ... – Joey Aug 04 '10 at 22:19
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    it does not have to be c.. c++ is fine too ;) – matthias krull Aug 04 '10 at 22:21
  • I'm saying writing a more useable shell, such as a replacement for bash that works on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X as well as including a package manager that runs on all of those with packages for them (assuming it goes somewhere and people make software for it other than myself) – Jarred Sumner Aug 04 '10 at 22:21
  • By many people, I meant people of 4chan's /g/ http://boards.4chan.org/g/res/12517021#12517373 and people I've spoken with over instant messenger – Jarred Sumner Aug 04 '10 at 22:23
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    Well, they already have their own shells. Windows users don't generally use `cmd`, but it's there. – Brian S Aug 04 '10 at 22:24
  • Python already is "a more useable shell, such as a replacement for bash". It already does this. What are you asking? – S.Lott Aug 04 '10 at 22:27
  • I'm saying one that works on all of them and is more universal – Jarred Sumner Aug 04 '10 at 22:27
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    Python's Shell is extremely difficult compared to Bash – Jarred Sumner Aug 04 '10 at 22:28
  • @Indebi: Don't listen to /g/, there are no places with more trolls, even on 4chan. Although, the general argument would probably be that python introduces large unnecessary overhead, and that python already is a shell. – You Aug 04 '10 at 22:30
  • But does the people of StackOverFlow think this is a good idea – Jarred Sumner Aug 04 '10 at 22:32
  • I don't think its a good idea. But I don't think it's a bad one at all. This is way too subjective IMHO – Federico klez Culloca Aug 04 '10 at 22:35
  • @Indebi: It doesn't matter what we think. It already exists. You can use Python instead of bash. Right now. No additional development or work. Just use it. We do it all the time to write portable scripts. – S.Lott Aug 04 '10 at 22:36
  • It would only make sense if it is a solution to an actual problem. State the problem & it's consequences, then state how your Python Shell will solve those problems, and then we can discuss whether that solution is viable / worth the effort. – Wrikken Aug 04 '10 at 23:19

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I don't think it's a bad idea. Lots of people use IPython which is a shell written in Python :)

In fact you may want to base your effort around IPython. scipy does this, for example

John La Rooy
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I've always thought it was quite a cool idea. Last time I got the urge to give it a go I was thinking about a maple-style worksheet interface for Python. Sadly I can't find the very cool Python+GTK+Cairo code for an interactive shell that is out there somewhere, but searching now I did come across a couple of things that might interest you.

Reinteract is very close to what I had in mind.

PyShell is closer to a traditional shell, the source is available and it says on the website that he's seeking help.

Edit: This older question on unix shell written in a reasonable language was a related link and has lots more examples.

Community
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Andrew
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Another shell written in Python is hotwire - it has some interesting ideas and a mix of commandline and gui interface. It is written in Python but can let you freely intermix code in sh, python, perl and ruby, plus its own language 'HotWirePipe'.

Unfortunately the main site for it seems to have died, but it is archived in the wayback machine.

Dave Kirby
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