[SciPy-dev] MCMC, Kalman Filtering, AI for SciPy?

[Fernando Perez]

Robert Kern wrote:

> I'll just chip in my two cents now and agree with Perry and others that 
> organizing the source tree according to GAMS is probably no better than 
> an attempt to organize conscientiously. Search is a much better way to 
> find what one is looking for (c.f. Google).

I agree that for finding stuff, a good search engine beats the pants off _any_ 
hierarchical scheme.  Google has proven that beyond the shadow of a doubt: 
it's easier to find a file on the internet than on your own hard disk!

However, we still have to keep in mind that in usage, python code _is_ 
hierarchically strucured:

scipy.linalg.blas.....

So even if we have a phenomenal search system in place, we still need a 
_reasonable_ hierarchy for the code.  It doesn't need to be perfect, and as I 
argued before a few well placed names can replicate useful things in key 
places.  But for code commits and program writing, some hierarchy does remain 
a necessity.

The argument for good search should, in my view, mean that we shouldn't spend 
an inordinate amount of effort in getting the hierarchical structure 
'perfect', as that would be a waste of time.  But something moderately 
reasonable is still needed, I think.

Best,


f