Scientific computing app Computable brings IPython and SciPy to the iPad

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Scientific computing app Computable brings IPython and SciPy to the iPad - Published on 07/10/14

Austrian iOS developer Karl Traunmuller today released Computable, the first iOS app to bring the powerful combination of the IPython computing environment and the rich collection of scientific software modules commonly referred to as the SciPy stack to the iPad. Centered around a notebook metaphor, IPython is a great platform for a wide range of computational problems, interactive lecture notes, term papers, and more.

Linz, Austria - Austrian iOS developer Karl Traunmuller today released Computable, the first iOS app to bring the powerful combination of the IPython computing environment and the rich collection of scientific software modules commonly referred to as the SciPy stack to the iPad. Centered around a notebook metaphor, IPython is a great platform for a wide range of computational problems, interactive lecture notes, term papers, and more.

Karl Traunmuller, the developer of Computable, says: "The IPython notebook is a great interactive prototyping environment for a variety of scientific and engineering problems. Also, the combination of Markdown-formatted text, TEX- or LATEX-formatted maths, and inline graphics lets you document your findings in a visually appealing way. I thought this would be cool to have on the iPad."

Under the hood, the native iOS application employs an embedded Python interpreter to run the core IPython system and the Python-based software modules from the SciPy stack. The notebook user interface, which is HTML-based on the desktop, has been written from scratch to deliver a streamlined, native iOS user experience that's optimized for the tablet form factor.

To facilitate efficient, gesture-driven notebook interaction (e.g. editing, moving, or running cells), a floating toolbar shows up whenever a cell is selected by a single tap. A second tap turns the cell into edit mode, which also opens the keyboard. To assist with authoring notebooks on the space-constrained device, Computable offers two customized keyboards, tailored to Python code and Markdown text, respectively. Also, a virtual trackpad, modeled after laptop trackpads, allows for quick and precise cursor positioning in blocks of text. The virtual trackpad can be revealed by horizontally swiping the top two rows of the extended keyboard.

Computable ships with a number of sample notebooks, most notably Prof. Lorena A. Barba's lecture notes on fluid dynamics and aerodynamics. To further extend the capabilities of the application, the addition of more Python software modules (e.g., Seaborn for plotting, NetworkX for graphs and networks, or scikit-learn for machine learning) is planned for upcoming versions.

Full SciPy stack:
* Numpy for N-dimensional arrays and linear algebra
* SciPy for a wide range of scientific and engineering problem spaces
* SymPy for symbolic algebra
* Pandas for dataset management
* Matplotlib for plotting

Features:
* Embedded Python 2.7 interpreter
* Native IPython notebook user interface
* Extended keyboards for Python and Markdown editing
* Support for TEX- or LATEX-formatted mathematical formulae

Device Requirements:
* iPad 3 or newer, iPad Air (A7 device) recommended for good performance
* iOS 7
* 62.5 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Computable is available from the iTunes App Store in the Education category as a free download with in-app purchase. The free download lets users edit and run the bundled sample notebooks to demo the app's capabilities. Creating new notebooks requires making an in-app purchase of $9.99.

Computable 1.0.0: http://computableapp.com
Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id875056565
Screenshot: http://computableapp.com/presskit/Screenshots/Notebook.png
App Icon: http://computableapp.com/presskit/Icon.png


Located in Linz, Austria, indie developer Karl Traunmueller develops focused, lightweight, and easy to use Mac and iOS apps. All Material and Software (C) 2014 Karl Traunmueller / All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.


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