inheriting a large python code base

[Rustom Mody]

On Sunday, February 16, 2014 4:45:04 AM UTC+5:30, Roy Smith wrote:
> In article Cameron Simpson  wrote:

> > On 15Feb2014 12:10, Rita wrote:
> > > i just inherited a large python code base and I would like to optimize the
> > > code (run faster). The application is a scientific application so I really
> > > don't understand the internal logic.
> > [...]
> > One thing I would keep in mind is that scientific applications
> > generally involve floating point math. That is subject to loss of
> > precision if done the wrong way.

> Another thing to keep in mind is that scientific applications are often 
> written by {physicists, chemists, astronomers, etc} who have no clue 
> about how floating point math, or indeed much of anything about 
> computers, works :-)

Not exactly my experience.
Most of the {physicists, chemists, astronomers, etc}s I know grok
floating point better than Ive been able to do in 30 years.
They dont get much else though! -- Usually called 'Fortran programmers'.

The guy who taught me numerical analysis -- a brilliant chemist -- could
never understand why anyone should want to use anything other than Fortran.
And it was a self-evident God's truth that a variable starting with
I-N was integer Rest real.
Declarations??  Pshaw! Sissy stuff!
"I *IS* an integer and no hanky-panky about it"