[Numpy-discussion] Simple financial functions for NumPy

[Alan G Isaac]

On Fri, 4 Apr 2008, Gael Varoquaux apparently wrote:
> I really thing numpy should be as thin as possible, so 
> that you can really say that it is only an array 
> manipulation package. This will also make it easier to 
> sell as a core package for developpers who do not care 
> about "calculator" features. 

I'm a user rather than a developer, but I wonder:
is this true?

1. Even as a user, I agree that what I really want from 
NumPy is a core array manipulation package (including 
matrices).  BUT as long as this is the core of NumPy,
will a developer care if other features are available?

2. Even if the answer to 1. is yes, could the 
build/installation process include an option not to 
build/install anything but the core array functionality?

3. It seems to me that pushing things out into SciPy remains 
a problem: a basic NumPy is easy to build on any platform, 
but SciPy still seems to generate many questions.

4. One reason this keeps coming up is that he NumPy/SciPy 
split is rather too crude.  If the split were instead 
something like NumPy/SciPyBasic/SciPyFull/SciPyFull+Kits 
where SciPyBasic contained only pure Python code (no 
extensions), perhaps the desired location would be more 
obvious and some of this recurrent discussion would go away.

fwiw,
Alan Isaac