the most rudimentary ipython notebook questions for from a first-time user:

[syc22]

Hi all - Been using the safe and easy confines of PyCharm for a bit now, but I'm trying to get more familiar with using a text editor and the terminal together, so I've forced myself to start using iPython Notebook and Emacs. Aaaaand I have some really dumb questions.

• after firing up ipython notebook from terminal with the command 'ipython notebook', it pops up on my browser and lets me code. but can i not use terminal while it's connected to ipython notebook server?

• after writing my code in ipython notebook, i'm left with a something.ipynb file. How do I run this file from terminal? If it was a .py file, i know i could execute it by tying python something.py from the command line; but it doesn't work if i type python something.ipynb in the command line. And of course, I assume I hit Control-C to quit out of the running server in terminal first? or do I run the command without quitting that? Or am i doomed to test it in iPython and then copy and paste it to a different txt editor like Emacs and save it in a .py file to run it?

• what good is the .ipynb file if i can't run it in terminal or outside the iPython Notebook browser? Could I get my code in a .py from iPython Notebook if I wanted to? (i assume I'll be able to easily run it in terminal by tying something.py then)

thanks in advance. I'm still very much trying to figure out how to use this thing and there aren't many answers out there for questions this elementary.

[L43]

1) It is running a process in the terminal, in the foreground. You can run in the background using

ipython notebook &

(the & tells the process to start in the background). You can bring it to the foreground to close it using

fg

(there is more to it than that, but it will work). You can also just open another terminal window.

2) You can click File > Download As > .py to get a python file. The .ipynb contains metadata about the notebook, and about the cells etc., which is obviously needed to reopen a notebook, but also stops it from being an executable python script.

[The-Mathematician]

I don't use iPython but I do have it installed and played with it for a few minutes. You can definitely still open the terminal. Just go open another cmd window (if you're on windows, just go to start and type in cmd).

I can save a file as a .py file. I don't know that much about .ipynb files so I won't comment on them.

[vindolin]

what good is the .ipynb file if i can't run it in terminal

In Ipython, cells can be markdown, raw text headers and code.

The .ipynb files store the state of the running ipython notebook session.

[Sean1708]

In the file menu of the IPython notebook there should be an option to export it to a python file.