storing variables *in* the notebook

Hi all,

This question has been raised a couple of times at various places, but I 
haven't yet found the answer I was looking for. In short, I would like 
to store the value of some variables in the notebook itself. The 
typical, and almost exclusively mentioned, use-case is something like this:


In [320]: x = some_long_calculation(33)


and then the user would like to be able to re-use x in a new session, 
without having to call some_long_calculation() again. Even worse is, 
perhaps, the case


In [321]: x = some_long_measurement()


when the value of x cannot, even in principle, be recovered by simply 
re-running the notebook, because some_long_measurement() collects 
experimental data through a measurement device.

Now, the standard answer to this problem is the %store magic, but that 
has at least two problems (one is actually more like a feature). First, 
as far as I understand, it saves the variable into a separate file, 
therefore, the notebook itself is not "portable" anymore: if I want to 
give it to someone, or use it on another computer, then I need the extra 
file, but then I could just save the variable in a file in the first place.

Second, if two sessions store the same variable, then, well, then it 
will be over-written, which is probably not ideal (but can qualify as a 
feature).

So, I would like to ask, whether it is possible to attach the value of 
simple variables to the metadata of the notebook, and recover it from 
there. If there is no infrastructure for this, is this advisable at all, 
and what would it take to implement it? Basically, what I am after is 
very similar to store, but the target would be the notebook itself.

Cheers,

Zoltán

_______________________________________________
IPython-dev mailing list
[email protected]
https://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/ipython-dev