Sage Tasks Outline
This is a general outline of targeted areas, including specific tasks, for improving the usability of Sage. The sources include the Sage Usability Improvements List and sagenb/todo.txt, but the scope here is wider. Feel free to make changes. To keep items succinct, please make links to group discussions, etc.
1. General
Sagenb.org privacy policy.
Y. Aner's notebook threat model (PDF).
SageForge - semi-automated repository for contributions to Sage:
- Scripts, worksheets, databases, and packages of [nearly] all sizes.
- Supplementary documentation, including multimedia.
- Optional reviews and ratings.
- Live, ulimited cellular paste-bin.
- RSS feeds.
2. Build / Test
- Tests:
- Increase coverage to 100%.
- Meaningful statistics / benchmarks, e.g., %timeit for individual doctests.
- Group logs by install, upgrade, or spkg install event.
- Porting:
- andLinux Sage.
- Windows.
- Windows build farm.
- Sagelite for Windows.
- Fat binaries (no SSE3, etc.).
- Notebook functional tests - Extend Selenium tests to other browsers.
Notebook load tests - The Grinder, FunkLoad, Pylot, Watir, Zope.testbrowser (now in SageNB).
3. Development
Auto-reload changed modules - paster serve --reload, CherryPy's AutoReload.
More convenient development workflow:
Code review tools - Rietveld.
- Automated, continuous builds and testing for new patches.
4. Documentation
- Document:
- Add many more modules to the reference manual.
5. Notebook: Admin
Don't list all users' worksheets.
- Authentication - abstract interface:
- LDAP.
- UNIX accounts.
- Dashboard:
- Real-time and cumulative statistics, aggregate and per user.
- Backups: complete or selective.
- Manage user accounts, passwords, groups, privileges.
- Send email to all registered users.
- Install new / updated modules and spkgs.
Lots of options with sensible defaults:
- Email address as username.
- Secure tokens to reset passwords.
- Moderated new account registration.
Custom analytics tags, geolocation (ClustrMaps).
6. Notebook: Introspection
Matrix B mentioned twice in B.solve_left?: B.solve_left(B, ...).
- Better error detection, e.g., for Maxima command completion.
- Live introspection cells.
- Introspection cross-links.
- Improve introspection / completion interface: floating div, RHS div.
New documentation browser. Open worksheet docstrings to this browser.
7. Notebook: "Modes"
- %timeit.
%cython mode, full and outside sage.
Slideshow mode - #6342.
- interacts:
- Auto updates.
Live published or remote - #6855.
Control over widget layout - #7379.
- Examples to include with Sage.
- Display nicely formatted docstrings (or captions).
Simplify extension, possibly with templates.
More widgets: circular slider ("angle" wheel), date picker, vertical sliders, spreadsheets, interactive plots, etc.
reST - markItUp with server-side Sphinx.
- Debugging:
Draw - SVG-edit.
- Annotate output from matplotlib's SVG backend.
Code editor - BeSpin, CodeMirror (#7501).
- Browse worksheet directories like a file system.
8. Notebook: Under the hood
Implement base_url.
Move is_valid_username, etc., out of twist.py. A validation module for all types of notebook form fields.
notebook():
- Allow default systems besides 'sage'.
- Allow a different sage command on a remote machine.
Manage Jmol applet count / memory use - sage-notebook.
Use Python's logging facility.
- Cythonize pexpect.
- Processes:
- Balance server pool loads.
- Run the worksheet process as another user.
- Reference implementation:
- Make ctrl-c quit.
- Don't put "data" link in all output cells.
- Don't block the server: making docbrowsers, etc.
- Remote worksheet processes.
Use fork (cf. #6967), named pipes, and/or memory-mapped files for worksheet processes.
- Client-server and server-server interaction:
Load JS / CSS components on demand - Ajile.
- Server-to-server backups, possibly with authentication.
- Decouple secure transport from sage/dsage. Use OpenSSL.
Remote access Python API - Google Documents List Data API.
- (Non-)authenticated modes.
- Manipulate, share, up/download, publish worksheets at a given Sage(Forge) server.
- Storage:
Fix worksheet.autosave().
- Always retrieve worksheet content from disk on open.
- Use a revision control tool (e.g., Mercurial) for undo, history, snapshots, etc.
- File size limit - auto-delete and warn above threshold.
Access a user's data directory securely via the new storage API.
- Handle permissions better for directories, history, output, conf files, etc.
Migrate to server / framework: Django, Pylons, Pyjamas, Tornado, etc.:
Switch from twisted.web2 to twisted.web.
9. Notebook: User Interaction
- Help:
- Reorganize help page:
- Search for commands.
- Linking to similar and related commands.
Easy set up of shipped jsMath fonts - MathJax.
- Automatic tips for keyboard shortcuts, editing features, etc. Opt out.
- Friendly bug buddy that emails reports, bundles session history, etc.
- Reorganize help page:
- Customization:
- Defaults: typeset, implicit multiplication, 3D viewer, rename "Untitled" worksheets.
- Custom window close callback.
- Function to update worksheet titlebar.
- Easy backups, selective or complete.
Download zip files of multiple worksheets, even if accounts=True.
- Keys
- Restart worksheet shortcut.
- Splash-screen with common keys.
- Insert new cell after current cell shortcut.
Custom shortcuts, e.g., ctrl-bksp to delete previous word, not join cells - #7618.
- Cells:
- Auto-updating cells, e.g., interacts.
- Unify server and client-side resize algorithms.
- Always show links for long output cells, regardless of length or interruption.
- Easily identify idle, queued, and running cells.
Select, delete, (un)group, move multiple cells.
Leading space input bug - #6729.
- 2D / 3D plots:
JavaScript animations.
Mouse-over for coordinates - matplotlib.
Interactively zoom, pan, annotate - canvas, SVG, Flot, Open Flash Chart.
- Worksheets:
- Export screen with checkboxes for images, data, etc.
Use notebook as IDE for running sage instance - #7501.
- Optional always visible menubar at top of worksheet.
- Fix "undefined" bug on first save in Safari 4.0.3.
- Don't list "Sage Users" when sharing.
- Rate worksheet title shows false error.
Page through worksheet list, not all at once - tablesorter.
- "Save as" option, e.g., for downloading, that prompts for a name.
- Toolbar with buttons to interrupt running code, save, attach files, etc.
Real-time concurrent editing - #7362.
- Published worksheets:
- Delete them.
- RSS feeds.
Live cells, e.g, interacts - #6855.
- Only to selected users or groups.
- Notebook:
Tags.
- Suppress browser warning for Konqueror.
- Manage logins:
View recent account activity. Add last login to user.py.
- Invalidate other sessions' cookies.
- Unique cookies for logins from different browsers / computers.
Full-text search: SQLalchemy, Whoosh (codenode-devel).
Fix MoinMoin.
- External:
Embed live cells / worksheets - #6855.
- Live published worksheets.