Snakes on a Spaceship—An Overview of Python in Heliophysics

Computational analysis has become ubiquitous within the heliophysics community. However, community standards for peer review of codes and analysis have lagged behind these developments. This absence has contributed to the reproducibility crisis, where inadequate analysis descriptions and loss of scientific data have made scientific studies difficult or impossible to replicate. The heliophysics community has responded to this challenge by expressing a desire for a more open, collaborative set of analysis tools. This article summarizes the current state of these efforts and presents an overview of many of the existing Python heliophysics tools. It also outlines the challenges facing community members who are working toward the goal of an open, collaborative, Python heliophysics toolkit and presents guidelines that can ease the transition from individualistic data analysis practices to an accountable, communalistic environment.