[SciPy-user] Polynomial interpolation

[Gael Varoquaux]

On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 10:09:31AM -0700, Ed Rahn wrote:
> Gael Varoquaux wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 09:20:48AM -0700, Ed Rahn wrote:
> >> The group of people who use scipy is much greater than you and your 
> >> colleagues. The people who use scipy do so because it uses python. In 
> >> this case a problem can be better solved, and the context better 
> >> understood using objects.

> > Yes, that's all good. Do provide an elaborate interface, but don't kill
> > the simple one.

> The original question was about how to implement a new interface, 
> nothing is being killed. Simple and elaborate are relative to what one 
> understand. Objects are a central part of python. To me it seems 
> elaborate to not use a core feature of the language, and instead create 
> some new type of information passing architecture between appropriate 
> functions.

OK, maybe I wasn't clear. I would like scipy to expose, amongst other
things, a simple procedural interface. It should also expose an
object-oriented one. By doing this you are not at all crippling the
language.

> It seems your argument is that scipy is better than matlab, but you want
> to keep the same semantics. New code in scipy should use python idioms,
> and not matlab or fortran ones simple because people have prior
> experience and fell comfortable with them.

It is not a question of prior experience, it is just that it is
conceptual simpler. I want a language that expose multiple levels of
complexity, so that different people can use different levels. That way I
can work with people using the advanced features of the language when I
want without forcing them onto my collaborators. The facts that these
idioms are better is irrelevent to someone who is trying to do simple
things. And I don't buy the argument that simple things should be done in
a different language, keeping scipy for complex problems. It doesn't have
to be this way. I am not suggesting to make a bad design choice, or to go
out of our way, I just want a two liner helper function.

Gaël