Some time ago, in a London Python Code Dojo, I heard about Pythonanywhere.com. I thought that it was interesting but I didn’t visit the webpage or register myself (lack of time, lack of need, whatever).
In general speaking I’m a bit reluctant to start depending on more Internet services. I try to use and reuse my existing services (mainly Gandi VPS, I love it!) instead of adding more dependencies to my digital life. Less dependences should be easier to manage, pay, know the system, etc. and I like the “Do It Yourself” approach of Gandi VPS.
Some weeks ago I wanted to share a text based Python script with two friends. I wondered which was the easiest way to share it (for me to prepare and for them to use). Perhaps bundle the Python script with Python (for Windows)? Send the Python script and and instructions to download Python and so on? Should I use jslinux? (jslinux boots a Linux in your Javascript and you get a console, this is amazing… also probably more work for myself and for them).
Then I remembered about Pythonanywhere, and that the name was exactly what I needed… to have Python… anywhere 🙂
Pythonanywhere is awesome! as a free user you get 2 Python/Bash consoles, Web based. I uploaded there my script and some Python module. Then you can share the console with other users (you can create a link and the other user will just open your console). More than one person can use the console at the same time! Ideal to explain how to use Python or work at the same time in some projects.
You can think that it’s like Google Documents (now called Google Drive) for Python.
I don’t think that Python Anywhere thinks that this is the main use case… they allow to deploy Python Web servers in their servers.
Pythonanywhere is a startup based in London, and build on the top of Amazon EC2 (I think that everyday there are more projects build on the top of Amazon Cloud computing, but this is a topic for another blog post).
So, don’t be as lazy as me and go to https://www.pythonanywhere.com to give it a try!
Hi Carles! Thanks for a lovely write-up, I just found it… Can I quote you on our testimonials page? I particularly like the “Google Documents for Python” bit…
We’re just working on integration of shared consoles with GitHub gists, so it’s definitely the kind of thing we like to encourage. It’s not all about web apps!
Hi Harry!
Yes, indeed you can quote me in the testimonials webpage!
Looking forward to test the shared consoles with GitHub!
Regards,
[…] that I tried to use Python Anywhere and I even wrote about it. I like but it’s not so easy to use for this situation. Python Anywhere can be used for many […]