IPython provides a replacement for the interactive Python interpreter with extra functionality.
Main features:
Comprehensive object introspection.
Input history, persistent across sessions.
Caching of output results during a session with automatically generated references.
Readline based name completion.
Extensible system of ‘magic’ commands for controlling the environment and performing many tasks related either to IPython or the operating system.
Configuration system with easy switching between different setups (simpler than changing $PYTHONSTARTUP environment variables every time).
Session logging and reloading.
Extensible syntax processing for special purpose situations.
Access to the system shell with user-extensible alias system.
Easily embeddable in other Python programs.
Integrated access to the pdb debugger and the Python profiler.
