ANN: F2PY - Fortran to Python Interface Generator

[Pearu Peterson]

F2PY - Fortran to Python Interface Generator
--------------------------------------------

I am pleased to announce the seventh public release of F2PY, version
2.39.235_1642. The purpose of the F2PY project is to provide the 
connection between Python and Fortran programming languages.

For more information, see

  http://cens.ioc.ee/projects/f2py2e/

Download source:

  http://cens.ioc.ee/projects/f2py2e/2.x/F2PY-2-latest.tar.gz

What's new?
------------

Since the last public release, that was more than two years ago, F2PY
project has been actively maintained and many useful features have been
implemented. Here follows some highlights:

* New statement ``usercode`` allows inserting user defined C code to F2PY
  generated extension module sources at various relevant places: before
  wrapper functions, after variable declarations, and to the end of
  initialization function of the module. This makes using F2PY very
  flexible.

* New statement ``pymethoddef`` allows adding items to PyMethodDef-array.

* Full support for character arrays and arrays of strings is finally
  implemented.

* Number of feature requests from users are implemented. For example:
  - the auxiliary ``as_column_major_storage()`` that efficiently converts
    array to column storage order
  - the F2PY_REPORT_ON_ARRAY_COPY macro that when defined sends a message
    to stderr when copy of an array with the size larger than specified
    threshold is made.
  - Numarray support, thanks to Todd Miller.

* Support for Win32 and Mac OSX platforms is considerably improved. The
  list of compilers supported by the scipy_distutils package is longer
  than ever:
    GNU Fortran Compiler
    Portland Group Fortran Compiler
    Absoft Corp Fortran Compiler
    MIPSpro Fortran Compiler
    Sun|Forte Fortran 95 Compiler
    Intel Fortran Compiler for 32-bit apps
    Intel Visual Fortran Compiler for 32-bit apps
    Intel Fortran Compiler for Itanium apps
    NAGWare Fortran 95 Compiler
    Compaq Fortran Compiler
    DIGITAL|Compaq Visual Fortran Compiler
    Pacific-Sierra Research Fortran 90 Compiler
    HP Fortran 90 Compiler
    Lahey/Fujitsu Fortran 95 Compiler
    IBM XL Fortran Compiler

* Numerous bugs are fixed. You should definitely update F2PY when using
  complex input arrays, there was a nasty bug that in certain cases
  caused incorrect results.

* F2PY has now a man page and its documentation is kept up to date. Many
  other improvements to F2PY algorithm and usage are implemented, see
  HISTORY.txt for more details.

Enjoy,
	Pearu Peterson

---------------
<P><A HREF="http://cens.ioc.ee/projects/f2py2e/">F2PY 2.39.235_1642</A> -
The Fortran to Python Interface Generator (24-Feb-04)