what would you like to see in a 2nd edition Nutshell?

[Robert Kern]

Alex Martelli wrote:
> Fernando Perez <fperez528 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>>A mention of the particular problems with numarray might be a good idea, so
>>that readers are aware of Numeric and where it may still be preferable to
>>numarray, but with the understanding that it's a (shrinking) niche.  Hopefully
>>one day that niche will shrink to zero, but that is going to take time and
>>work.
> 
> Right -- and if I can get the 2nd ed of the Nutshell out within 2005, it
> may be too early to say that Numeric has shrunk to the vanishing
> point... so I may still need to have both in...

I think that, for people who are approaching numarray/Numeric for the 
first time through your book, all they need is a discussion about 
numarray and a brief discussion about Numeric's existence, its important 
differences from numarray, and why one might use it instead (small array 
performance, compatibility with other libraries, etc.). I think that the 
core lessons such a person is going to learn from a numarray section of 
your book will transfer just fine to Numeric if they are careful. If 
they're not careful, a book isn't going to keep them from shooting 
themselves in the foot, anyways.  :-)

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
  Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
   -- Richard Harter