[Numpy-discussion] Status of Numeric

[Tom Loredo]

Paul Dubois wrote:
> 
> Having two array classes around is a terrible idea. Once you have two
> popular array classes the entire world bifurcates. This plot package
> accepts those and that FFT accepts these, ad nauseum.

I agree with this sentiment.  I write C modules that interface with
arrays, and presently use Numeric, but even with this investment
in Numeric I'd like to see the community as a whole move to numarray.
I don't want to have to keep two different C APIs in my head for
dealing with arrays, one within scipy, the other for numarray.

Speaking as an astronomer (with Python growing increasingly popular
in astronomy), I think it would be Very Bad to have scipy use one
type of array, and much astronomical software use another (numarray
is being developed at Space Tel Science Inst., driven largely by
the needs of astronomers).  The Space Tel work is likely to make
astronomers a big part of Python's scientific computing user base,
and thus a big part of scipy's user base.  Having to learn two
array APIs (even if just on the C module level) will be an
obstacle to developers and users alike.

-Tom Loredo

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