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Anthony Scopatz - xonsh - PyCon 2016

Anthony Scopatz - xonsh - PyCon 2016 on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2016–2025.

PyCon 2016

talk · intermediate · evergreen

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Anthony Scopatz presents xonsh at PyCon 2016, a shell that is a superset of Python combining the best features of bash, zsh and fish. It covers rich history, tab completion, and how the language compiles to a Python AST.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Recommended as the author's own explanation of xonsh's design and how Python and shell interplay.

people recommended it
2
separate months
2
strong recommendations
0
discussed on HN
2016–2025
“It's very easy to switch if you're willing to spend 30 minutes to go through this talk about its design by the author”
— ambivalence, Feb 2025, in “Xonsh – A Python-powered shell”

What HN commenters said

3 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

ambivalenceFeb 2025Recommends

Xonsh is a fantastic shell. I literally think they are most hindered by the name at this point, since it's one of those clever names that are pronounced in a peculiar way and one that doesn't convey too well that it's really Python + sh in a beautifully consistent design. It's very easy to switch if you're willing to spend 30 minutes to go through this talk about its design by the author: ▶ this video After this short intro you will know how Python and shell interact within xonsh and you'll avoid surprises. I wish it started faster, but it's a really small price to pay for having Python 3.13 open literally at all times.

in “Xonsh – A Python-powered shell” · View on HN

myceliumApr 2018Recommends

I'd highly recommend the xonsh shell for scripting if you're familiar with python: [link] Once you do tutorial and learn the rules for going between shell and python, it's super easy to slice and dice. I have always disliked that moment of "yes, a shell script is probably the best tool for this job" that then leads me to banging my head against bash syntax for an hour. Python libraries like `sh` are great, but still a little high overhead. Now the twice a month I have to shell script I find to be pretty fun, and I'd highly recommend xonsh. Great PyCon 2016 talk on it here: ▶ this video

in “Why programmers are not paid in proportion to their productivity (2009)” · View on HN

JoshTriplettNov 2016Cites it

> BTW, i recall Intel showing off a variant of the python interpreter being run directly from GRUB. That was me: [link] , presented at Pycon 2015: [link] and 2016 with networking: [link] > Also, i think there was someone working on a Python CLI that could replace bash etc. That was "xonsh" ( [link] , pronounced "conch"), by Anthony Scopatz, presented at PyCon 2016: ▶ this video

in “Why we need the best tools on Chromebooks and Raspberry Pi” · View on HN

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