Beaker Notebook v1.3 released, includes PySpark and SparkR support etc.

beakernotebook.com

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Among many improvements, Beaker v1.3 has: Access to Spark clusters with PySpark and SparkR. Support for new languages Clojure and Kdb. A new editor for markdown and section headings that allows inline math, vim keybindings, and handles special characters. Improved indentation and editing, including tab as a synonym for autocomplete. A new UI for data frames that includes formatting of each column. Allow users to generate files from code cells and access the results with HTML. Too many performance and bug fixes to count.

How does this compare to IPython/Jupyter? It seems to be building on top of it?

Beaker allows you to run multiple languages in the same notebook and communicate between them (you can set a variable in one language and read it in another and it just works, magically). It is JavaScript-centric and can be scripted and extended in JS. Has some nice modern UI features like interactive dataframe display, one click sharing, expandable sections. In particular, the R support is quite good compared to IPython3.

Yes, it is compatible with the IPython backend, so if you already have that installed, you can access it. Also you can import ipynb files. Compatibility is pretty good but not everything works, eg widgets do not.

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