[Numpy-discussion] consensus (was: NA masks in the next numpy release?)

[Eric Firing]

On 10/29/2011 12:26 AM, Ralf Gommers wrote:
> The history of this discussion doesn't suggest it straightforward to get
> a design right first time. It's a complex subject.
>
> The second part of your statement, "and then implement", sounds so
> simple. The reality is that there are only a handful of developers who
> have done a significant amount of work on the numpy core in the last two
> years. I haven't seen anyone saying they are planning to implement (part
> of) whatever design the outcome of this discussion will be. I don't
> think it's strange to keep this in mind to some extent.

...including the fact that last summer, Mark had a brief one-time 
opportunity to contribute major NA code.  I expect that even if some 
modifications are made to what he contributed, letting him get on with 
it will turn out to have been the right move.

Apparently Travis hopes to put in a burst of coding in 2012:

http://technicaldiscovery.blogspot.com/2011/10/thoughts-on-porting-numpy-to-pypy.html

Go to the section "NumPy will be evolving rapidly over the coming 
years".  Note that "missing data bit-patterns" is on his list, 
consistent with his most recent messages.

Eric