NumPy 1.0b4 now available

[Robert Kern]

mensanator at aol.com wrote:
> Travis E. Oliphant wrote:
>> The 4th beta release of NumPy 1.0 has just been made available.
>>
>> NumPy 1.0 represents the culmination of over 18 months of work to unify
>> the Numeric and Numarray array packages into a single best-of-breed
>> array package for Python.
>>
>> NumPy supports all the features of Numeric and Numarray with a healthy
>> dose of it's own improved features.
> 
> So how come this support doesn't extend to making a numpy
> version of NumTuT?

Because NumTut has no redeeming value? Certainly none over this:

   http://www.scipy.org/Numpy_Example_List

>> It's time to start porting your applications to use NumPy as Numeric is
>> no longer maintained and Numarray will only be maintained for a few more
>> months.
> 
> Which would be a good reason to convert NumTut.

No. NumTut would still need to be *useful*.

>> Porting is not difficult especially using the compatibility layers
>> numpy.oldnumeric and numpy.numarray and the alter_code1.py modules in
>> those packages.
> 
> Ah, I see. I'm supposed to convert it myself.
> 
> So when I place my cursor over the link

What link?

> and it identifies the
> link as "alter_code1.py" meaning it's a Python source file,
> naturally I download it only to discover that it's not a source
> code file but an .html file masquerading as a .py file.
> 
> So when I followow the link and see some stupid management
> system, I'm completely bewildered. What the fuck am I supposed
> to do with this? Oh, wait...I can download in other formats.
> 
> Only the "Plain Text" format isn't plain text. It strips off the web
> page stuff but doesn't translate the codes such as < rendering
> the alleged plain text un-runnable. Ok, I should have downloaded
> "Original Format". Would it be too much trouble to explain all that?

Why are you trying to download the file from the Trac source browser? Get it 
from the real numpy source distribution.

> Oh, and when you run alter_code1.py, it does not, in fact, alter
> the code. After "altering", the NumTut files continue to complain
> that there is no module named "Numeric". Pardon me, but wasn't
> alter_code1.py supposed to fix that? I guess not. Of course, you
> can guess what happened next. Manually changing "Numeric" to
> "numpy" fixes the import problem but it still won't run, something
> about "types" not being defined.

Yup, that's a bug. Apparently we're not detecting "from Numeric import *". The 
drop-in replacement for "Numeric" is not "numpy" but "numpy.oldnumeric".

Making that replacement at least gets me to a RuntimeError in Tkinter. Which is 
exactly what I get with Numeric. Remember what I said about NumTut having no 
redeeming value?

>> The full C-API of Numeric is supported as is the C-API
>> of Numarray.
>>
>> More information is available at  http://numpy.scipy.org
> 
> Like the statement
> 
> "There is a module called convertcode.py in NumPy that
> can make the transition to NumPy easier (it will automatically
> perform the search-and-replace style changes that need to
> be made to python code that uses Numeric to make it work
> with NumPy)."
> 
> Which is a lie, there is no such module included in numpy.
> Is alter_code1.py supposed to take its place? If so why hasn't
> the Home Page been updated to reflect this?

Are you volunteering to maintain the site? I'd be happy to set you up with access.

>> NumPy Developers
> 
> And you have the GALL to CHARGE for the documentation!

No, he's charging for a book. It's not the only source of documentation out 
there, you know.

   http://www.scipy.org/Documentation

If you think the freely available material is lacking, please contribute.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco