Python evolution: Unease

[Scott David Daniels]

Terry Reedy wrote:
> Even though I currently only have 80 ... I realize that my stinginess
 > with disk space for more serious stuff is obsolete.  A gigabyte would
 > cover Python + Wxpython + numarray + scipy + pygame + a lot
> of other stuff.
> 
> Would it be possible, at least for Windows, to write a Python script 
> implementing a 'virtual distribution'?  
 > IE, download Python, install it, download next package, install it,
 > etc. -- prefereably table driven?

I would suggest looking to the Enthought distribution as a reasonable
base (gets you an awful lot).  Enthought has a _large_ collection,
covering a lot of stuff that has general utility.  Their production
stuff is still at Python 2.3.3, but I believe they have a 2.4 version
coming soon.  The list of what they put in the 2.3.3 package is truly
impressive:

     wxPython, PIL, VTK, MayaVi, Numeric, SciPy, ScientificPython,
     F2PY, Chaco, Traits, PyCrust, ZODB, Gadfly, PySQLite, and ctypes.

All for one sub-90-Meg download.  I add VPython to get dirt-simple 3-D
stuff; you'd probably add pygame.  The key to this is Enthought's
attention to testing a stable "sumo" collection.  I add a few packages
that are much more anachronistic.  My thought basically is that, since
I want at least four of the packages, getting a "blessed" superset eases
my installation woes.

If you can wait, the plan for MacEnthon (Python 2.4 on Mac) looks great:

     http://www.scipy.org/wikis/featurerequests/MacEnthon

I seem to remember discussion about synchronizing with the windows 2.4
version to have essentially the same list.

--Scott David Daniels
Scott.Daniels at Acm.Org