[Numpy-discussion] ScientificPython 2.1.0 with MPI interface

[Konrad Hinsen]

I have just put ScientificPython 2.0.1 and 2.1.0 on my FTP server,

    ftp://dirac.cnrs-orleans.fr/pub/ScientificPython/

while Starship is recovering. Version 2.0.1 is mostly a bugfix release,
with only minor additions. 2.1.0 is identical to 2.0.1 except for the
addition of an MPI interface module. I have tested this on only one
platform (Linux/Intel running MPICH), so I would be very interested
in feedback from people running different MPI platforms.

MPI support in ScientificPython is still very basic; there are
probably more complete MPI interfaces out there. The strong point of
ScientificPython's interface is the integration into Python:
communicators are Python objects, all communication happens via
methods defined on communicator objects, support is provided for
sending and receiving both string and NumPy array objects. Moreover,
Python scripts can rather easily be written in such a way that they
work both with and without MPI support, of course using only a single
processor when no MPI is available. Finally, there is a full C API as
well, which means that other C modules can make use of MPI without
having to link to the MPI library, which is particularly useful for
dynamic library modules. It also facilitates packaging of MPI-based
code, which doesn't need to know anything at all about the MPI
library.

Happy Easter,
  Konrad.
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Konrad Hinsen                            | E-Mail: hinsen at cnrs-orleans.fr
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