Microsoft boosts IPython funds

IPython’s development plans receive significant boost after Microsoft elects to sponsor the platform with a $100 thousand donation. A command shell for interactive computing in multiple programming languages, the IPython was awarded the 2012 Award for the Advancement of Free Software at Libre Planet this year. Dr Fernando Perez, the man behind the platform, originally developed it as a sort of hybrid where the python console was enriched with a unix shell, but his project has now been morphed into a toolset of “components for scientific computing from interactive exploration, to parallel computing, publication and education,” as he explained upon receiving the award. “Today, [IPython’s] scope goes beyond scientific research, reaching anyone who needs interactive computing, not only in the Python language, as our current architecture aims to be language agnostic,” he added. NumFOCUS, an organization set up to receive and distribute funds throughout various Python development efforts, received the Microsoft donation right after IPython 1.0 was released. IPython welcomed the sponsorship expressing their gratitude for this contribution, which will be used to ensure the continuous enrichment of the various aspects of IPython, and its development in further plains previously outside the community’s reach. In a statement released, IPython notes: “While we have other sources of funding and the support of the open source community, these new funds will help us to focus efforts in specific areas, where we identify additional challenges or opportunities beyond the scope of those resources. This demonstration of good will from Microsoft’s side, comes as yet another step in a series of efforts the company has made to support IPython. Namely, Microsoft had integrated IPython’s parallel computing capabilities with the HPC Server in 2009, as it did with the open-source plugin Python Tools for Visual Studio in 2010. Moreover, in 2012, IPython Notebook on Windows Azure was implemented to exhibit how IPython could be used to enable control of computational resources in Microsoft’s cloud platform.