code snippets for sage worksheets

[haraldschilly]

Currently, the user has to know about the Sage commands in notebook prior to starting to work with it. A collection of templates for common tasks would be tremendously helpful, because it gives a head start for accomplishing a certain task.

Here is an outline how this could work:

1. The UI contains a button "f(x)". When clicking on it, it opens up a dedicated dialog box.
2. On the left is a tree (or two columns) of topics and explicit tasks
3. The user navigates to a certain entry - e.g. Calculus > Limit Example No. 1 - sees a preview of the code and a description of what it is.
4. After pressing "insert", a new input cell below the one where the cursor is, is inserted and contains this working example.

The scope of examples could range from simple one-liners up to several lines of more complicated code. In any case, the user is then free to play around with the provided example to tailor it for the specific needs.

Extensions:

• A template system, where these snippets are parametrized by variables and functions.
• Assigning custom keyboard shortcuts to ones favourite templates.
• A "quick-search", where you just hit a keyboard shortcut that brings up this dialog with a focused search box. Type in roughly what you want and select the snippet via a single click or via keyboard cursors.
• A way to collect submissions for new entries with a review. (that could be done right here as an issue)

Related:

• Code Snippets for a Sage Cell
• Sagemath Interact

[haraldschilly]

this idea is partially implemented in page/wizard.coffee