Define multiple output methods for lab_dev

[aplund]

Before posting a feature request

• I have searched exisisting GitHub issues to make sure the feature request does not already exist.

Feature details

Currently in ipython, lab_dev objects do not display any useful information in the output. I need to manually call repr to see something useful.

Python 3.11.9 (main, Jul 24 2024, 15:03:44) [GCC 14.1.1 20240522]
Type 'copyright', 'credits' or 'license' for more information
IPython 8.28.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python. Type '?' for help.

[ins] In [1]: %load playground/display.py

[ins] In [2]: # %load playground/display.py
         ...: import mrmustard as mm
         ...: import mrmustard.lab_dev
         ...:
         ...: c = mm.lab_dev.Coherent([0], 1)
         ...:

[ins] In [3]: c
Out[3]: HBox(children=(VBox(children=(HTML(value='\n<style>\ntd {\n  border: 1px solid;\n}\nth {\n  border: 1px solid;…

Implementation

It would appear that this occurs because there is the _ipython_display_ method defined on the objects. This is described in the ipython code as an "escape-hatch" formatter. After IPython 6.1 the _repr_*_ methods are described as the way to get formatted representations of objects. Perhaps this is the way to do this.

How important would you say this feature is?

1: Not important. Would be nice to have.

Additional information

No response

[timmysilv]

To add a bit of context here: I chose to use _ipython_display_ because _repr_*_ requires that you return the required data (eg. raw javascript/html) as opposed to using your own side effect (eg. IPython.display like we use) as described in the ipython docs. I remember that plotly was having trouble when I tried using _repr_html_ and returning the HTML from the widget, likely because it needed some javascript stuff that wasn't installed/supported. I didn't dig too deep, so it might be doable, but Plotly definitely added pain.

[aplund]

Hmm... this would seem to be more complex than it seems due to the way plotly works. Does plotly give equally weird results when used interactively in the terminal interface?

[timmysilv]

i can't use much from the terminal because i do all my work on a remote machine so i'm not sure. but probably