December 1, 2014 (Vol. 34, No. 21)
Rating:
Strong Points: Sample notebooks contain a lot of information
Weak Points: Higher system requirements for full version
Platform:
iPad
Cost:
Free ($9.99 in-app purchase)
Summary:
I hope you’re not scared of snakes, because Python is invading your mobile device! Actually, this “snake” won't squeeze the life out of you (unless you find coding to be particularly oppressive, that is). With the full version of the Computable app (available as an in-app purchase), researchers can access the IPython scientific computing environment on the go on their iPads. Computable comes equipped with the SciPy stack of scientific algorithms and functions and a modified keyboard to facilitate typing into IPython notebooks. The free version of the app is a nice Python resource of its own, as it includes a number of sample notebooks composed of modules in aerodynamics and computational fluid dynamics for Python fans to peruse. While the full version of the app (i.e. making your own IPython notebooks) requires at least an iPad 3, the free version and its sample notebooks can be explored on earlier iPad models.
