This package provides convenience functions for easier Mathematica context management. Mathematica’s namespace is, by default, global and shared across notebooks. This, in most cases, is very inconvenient and can easily lead to errors. See this StackOverflow post for discussion of these issues.
It is recommended that every notebook is set to use a separate namespace.
This is ordinarily accomplished via SetOptions[EvaluationNotebook[],
CellContext -> Notebook].
This package provides a wrapper around this function, as well as a way to easily access this private context from other notebooks.
To load a package in Mathematica, execute the following in the front end:
AppendTo[$Path, "/path/to/package/dir"]; Needs["PackageName`"]; (* don't forget the backquote *)
Note: under Windows, the path will involve double backslashes, e.g.
AppendTo[$Path, "c:\\path\\to\\package\\dir"]
To autoload the package, append the above lines to init.m in
$UserBaseDirectory/Autoload/Kernel/init.m
e.g. /home/leo/.Mathematica/Autoload/Kernel/init.m
(To obtain exact location of $UserBaseDirectory, evaluate $UserBaseDirectory in mma.)
The package provides the following functions:
setPrivatespawnScratchsetAutosaveExposeContexts
Docstrings can be accessed from Mathematica in the usual manner by entering
e.g. ?setPrivate in the notebook.
Usage: setPrivate[]
Creates a private context by calling SetOptions[EvaluationNotebook[],
CellContext -> Notebook] and replaces the “setPrivate” notebook input string
with the “SetOptions…” command string.
Resultant assigned context can be checked via $Context or $ContextPath.
Alternative forms: setPrivate[“foo`”] or setPrivate[{“foo`”,”bar`”}]
Functions as above, but adds contexts “foo`” or “foo`”, “bar`” to the
$ContextPath.
Usage: spawnScratch[]
Opens a new notebook with a private context, but its $ContextPath will
include the context of the invoking notebook (i.e. the notebook where
“spawnScratch” was entered). The “spawnScratch[]” command cell will disappear
from the invoking notebook so as not to pollute the workspace. This is
extremely convenient when one wants to perform throw-away calculations with
the current notebook’s symbols. The scratch notebook can, of course, be
saved.
Usage: setAutosave[] or setAutosave[True]; setAutosave[False]
This is a convenience wrapper around
SetOptions[SelectedNotebook[],NotebookAutoSave->True|False].
Usage: ExposeContexts[{"foo`","bar`"}]
Appends contexts to $ContextPath.
In my Mathematica installations, I invoke the above functions by typing
_private (which automatically expands to setPrivate[]) and _scratch
(which automatically expands to spawnScratch[]). This is accomplished by
tapping into the InputAutoReplacements mechanism that is ordinarily
responsible for replacing ->, :>, etc. with fancy arrows in notebooks.
Below are my notes on how I set it up. Instructions are provided
as is; use them at your own risk, and make sure to back up any system files if you choose
to modify them :)
Go to Format->Edit Stylesheet
This will pull up a notebook of sorts. Copy the following Cell[] code:
Cell[StyleData["StandardForm"],
InputAutoReplacements->{
"_private" -> "setPrivate[]","_scratch" -> "spawnScratch[]",
"->" -> "\[Rule]", ":>" -> "\[RuleDelayed]", "<=" -> "\[LessEqual]", ">=" ->
"\[GreaterEqual]", "!=" -> "\[NotEqual]", "==" -> "\[Equal]", ParentList}]
Paste the above cell (you can make other additions) into that
style-editing notebook thing. Click "Install"; choose a filename. That
name will now show up in the Stylesheets menu. To apply this as a default,
choose the name of an existing stylesheet (like Default.nb). After
restart, the autoreplacements will work for all notebooks using that
stylesheet. (Under linux, should have a file under
/home/leo/.Mathematica/SystemFiles/FrontEnd/StyleSheets/Default.nb. Check
that this file is present, correctly named, and has the necessary code if
problems arise.)