[SciPy-user] [Numpy-discussion] [ANN] NumPy 0.9.6 released

[Paul Ray]

On Mar 14, 2006, at 1:33 PM, Travis Oliphant wrote:

>> Just wondering, does this one also require an update to scipy?
>> And in general do numpy updates always require an update to scipy,  
>> too?
>> Or is it only when the numpy C API interface changes?
> It's only when the C-API interface changes that this is necessary.
> Pre-1.0 it is likely to happen at each release.
>
> After that it is less likely to happen.

Pre-1.0, I think it is fine for the version numbering to be a free- 
for-all, as it has been.  There have been many times, it seems, where  
the latest numpy didn't work with the latest scipy and stuff like that.

After 1.0, I would like to encourage some discipline with regards to  
numpy version numbering.  From 1.0, the API should NOT change at all  
until 1.1.  Releases like 1.0.1, 1.0.2, ... should be bug fixes only  
(and possibly small additions, like new methods that weren't there  
before).  But if any change will break code that USES numpy like  
SciPy, Matplotlib, PyFITS, etc... it should require a minor version  
increment to 1.1+.  Is that the basic plan of the numpy developers?

I think that many people with codes that use Numeric or numarray are  
awaiting the numpy 1.0 release as a sign that it is stable and ready  
for prime time, before converting their codes.

Cheers,

-- Paul