IPython belongs to the Jupyter project. From their inception, both IPython and Jupyter have been very opportunistic and pragmatic about their features – if a feature seemed like a good idea to the Steering Committee, it became part of the project. This has both good and bad aspects. On the good side, any useful advance in programming is likely to be incorporated into the project. On the down side, it makes predicting where the project is going difficult. About the only sure bet is that the project will continue to be active, given its large and growing popularity.

The technological and economic infrastructure supporting coding means that further advances in performance and scaling will result from increased reliance on parallel computing, whether the tightly coupled traditional architecture, or the more loosely coupled cloud style. In either case, IPython is well situated to follow the field as it advances.

In a wider view, scientific computing is reaching the end of disposable code...