[Matrix-SIG] advocacy

[Konrad Hinsen]

> a problem with the add-ons, not the language itself.  When I tried
> doing a few projects with Numeric, here's what I ran into:
...

These are indeed serious problems if what you want is a complete
"scientific workbench" kind of system. I'd love to see this in Python,
and I have no doubt it could be done, but it requires a level of
organization that does not seem to be available at the moment. LLNL is
taking care of NumPy maintenance, but there is no real organized
development activity.

On the other hand, for another large group of applications, the
current state is sufficient to make it the best alternative.
For example my work: computational chemistry. I don't need the
majority of operations in the well-known packages (IDL, Matlab, ...),
but rather specialized operations that I have to implement myself
anyway. Python+NumPy is an excellent basis for such projects, much
better than other systems, which may have better standard
functionality, but not Python's flexibility for extension.

> A year and a half ago, Paul Barrett and I put in a proposal to NASA
> with a number of list members as Collaborators.  The proposal would
> have covered some programmers' and doc writers' salaries to make and
> distribute a coherent package, but it wasn't selected for funding.

So do it again! I think this is the only way to succeed, there must
be people dedicated to organizing a coherent development effort.

> Barrett would release his class library!).  Perhaps this is a good
> time to step back and ask the community a few questions about where it
> wants Numerical Python to go.

Wishes are one thing, but someone must actually do the work and/or
provide the funding to get it done. Like many others, I'd be happy
to contribute, but I just can't dedicate enough time to this
to do major improvements on my own.
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Konrad Hinsen                            | E-Mail: hinsen@cnrs-orleans.fr
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