[Blindmath] Announcing InPy

[Jamal Mazrui]

Now available at
http://EmpowermentZone.com/InPy.zip

InPy
Version 1.0
October 29, 2008
Copyright 2008 by Jamal Mazrui
LGPL license

InPy (short for Interactive Python) is a free, console mode environment
for testing and evaluating code in the Python language.  InPy seeks to
enhance the default shell environment of Python for Windows in ways that
make it more productive, especially for screen reader users.  The program
works well with a screen reader, since new output to the console is
automatically read.  InPy may also be used as a speech-friendly calculator
or workspace, since various math and science modules are available for
Python, e.g., from the SciPy page at
http://scipy.org

Python is being used as the development language in several
accessibility-related projects, including
Orca
http://live.gnome.org/Orca

NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA)
http://www.nvda-project.org/

latex-access
http://latex-access.sourceforge.net

Yet Another Braille Translator
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/YABT/1.0.1

and SayTools
http://EmpowermentZone.com/saysetup.exe

Interested programmers can leverage such existing solutions to increase
the availability of software applications that are accessible.

The main code for this project, InPy.py, should work on Python 2.4, 2.5,
or 2.6.  Development and testing are currently done with 2.5, so that is
the recommended version.

To manually install the program, download the archive at
http://EmpowermentZone.com/InPy.zip
and unzip it into a directory that is convenient to access at a Windows
command prompt, e.g.,
C:\InPy

To run the program, execute the batch file InPy.bat.  If you are in its
directory, you can just enter
inpy
at the command prompt (capitalization does not matter).  The batch file
uses Python 2.5 if it has been installed in the default directory
C:\Python25

Alternatively, you can invoke the program with the latest version of the
EdSharp text and code editor, available at
http://EmpowermentZone.com/edsetup.exe

EdSharp includes features for managing indentation in Python.  After
picking the Python language with Control+Shift+F5, InPy is available with
the Go to Environment command, Control+Shift+G (assuming Python is
installed).  If you update an EdSharp installation, press Alt+Shift+0 for
new default settings that include InPy support.

InPy is developed with the InteractiveConsole class of the Python
language, implementing an interpreter that works like the standard one
with additional enhancements.  This includes being able to clear the
screen with the cls command.  You can also save output from a session with
the log command.

For anyone interested in learning to program in Python, some useful links
are as follows.  The direct download address of the Python 2.5 installer
is
http://python.org/ftp/python/2.5.2/python-2.5.2.msi

The main list of Python add-in packages is at
http://pypi.python.org/pypi?%3Aaction=index

A convenient utility called easy_install for adding or updating packages
is at
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools/

A collection of text tutorials on Python is at
http://EmpowermentZone.com/pyth_doc.zip

I invite Python programmers to contribute ideas and code to this open
source project.  Below is the online help of this release:

InPy 1.0 by Jamal Mazrui

Type a Python statement or expression, followed by Enter.
A trailing semicolon (;) may be used to seperate multiple statements
on the same line, though indentation would still
need to be embedded for a nested block.
The prompt changes from a greater than symbbol (>) to a period (.)
if more input is needed to complete a statement.

If the output of a command is more than 23 lines of text,
the display is paused so that it does not scroll off the screen.
The More? prompt then requests a choice,
to be followed by Enter.
Enter the letter y or nothing to answer Yes for the next screen.
Enter n for No, thereby returning to the > input prompt.
Enter a for All text, which continues without pausing.
This is useful when logging the output to a file.

Besides regular Python syntax, this interpreter adds some commands.
A command name is lower case, with a space before any argument,
which is not quoted.

exit or quit - end this program

cls - clear the screen

exec FileName - execute a Python script file

log FileName - log output to a new file

log off - stop logging

help - display this documentation

Other help features of the standard Python interpreter are available,
e.g., the help() and dir() functions,
used either with or without parameters.