IPython
Hacker ApprovedInteractive Python shell in Developer tools
People recommend IPython as a richer interactive Python shell than the default, with tab completion, color-coded output and debugging help.
People recommend IPython as a richer interactive Python shell than the default, with tab completion, color-coded output and debugging help.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 93%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 13 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Better REPL than default Python or irb
“much better repl (out of the box and excellent, installable ipython)”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Go Away Python” “I prefer ipython over irb”
Comment from 25 Dec 2025 in “Ruby 4.0.0 Released” “IPython, you had a nice REPL with graphing to use all that from”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Why I love OCaml (2023)” Helps debugging and iteration
“incredibly helpful for debugging and iteration”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Why Common Lisp is now the best programming language” “I make a ton of progress with ipython”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “We Lost Something: 1970s REPLs Were Better Than Modern Development Environments” Tab completion and color-coded output
“ipython saved me this week when it color coded”
Comment from 23 Apr 2026 in “Your hex editor should color-code bytes” “IPython does tab-complete filenames”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “A Commentary on the Sixth Edition Unix Operating System (1977)” Runs in terminals and on phones
“Try running ipython inside a vim terminal”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “We Lost Something: 1970s REPLs Were Better Than Modern Development Environments” “now I can run iPython on my phone”
Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “The R47: A new physical RPN calculator”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Notebook interface not a terminal replacement
“The notebook interface popularized by iPython is an interesting one, but it's not really a replacement for a terminal.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “The terminal of the future”
What people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“incredibly helpful for debugging and iteration”
“Heck, even some notebook like Ipython with a CSV module would be far more desirable than a spreadsheet”
“ipython saved me this week when it color coded”
“IPython's autoreload doesn't feel as reliable”
“much better repl (out of the box and excellent, installable ipython)”
“I prefer ipython over irb”
“Try running ipython inside a vim terminal”
“using iPython is good enough of an experience to be honest”
“I make a ton of progress with ipython”
“IPython does tab-complete filenames”
“The notebook interface popularized by iPython is an interesting one, but it's not really a replacement for a terminal.”
“now I can run iPython on my phone”
“IPython, you had a nice REPL with graphing to use all that from”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.