[SciPy-dev] Online SciPy Journal

[Bill Baxter]

On 10/3/06, Travis Oliphant <oliphant at ee.byu.edu> wrote:
> Bill Baxter wrote:
>
> >On 10/2/06, Travis Oliphant <oliphant.travis at ieee.org> wrote:
> >
> >
> >Even if it is all Python for the time being, I think I would prefer a
> >more generic sounding name, like "Journal of Scientific Computing in
> >High Level Languages".

> We need a journal
> that documents the development of tools for an open source platform for
> conducting scientific computing.   Right now that platform for us is
> Python.

> So, perhaps I'm not "ambitious" enough to create a publication that
> outlasts Python

Well I think it's pretty ambitious to restrict the potential pool of
submitters to just one language from the outset.  Maybe the policies
can worm around that a little.  LIke "ok we call it the Journal of
Scientific Python, but really we'll accept things in other languages
too, as long as they are really good and take advantage of the same
sorts of features that make Python great."  So that way if someone
goes and creates SciRuby it could be published in the Journal of
Scientific Python, too.  ( But after that they may want to go and
create the Journal of Scientific Ruby.)  In that way it could serve as
a way to get ideas for features that are must-haves for the next
generation python.

--
There could be a subtitle that usually no-one ever mentions but the
official title is like:
      THE JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC PYTHON
            and science with dynamic programming languages

--
Another side-benefit of it being very obviously Python-centric is that
it becomes a very visible sign of the size, vitality and value of the
community of scientific python users, which could help lend weight to
requests for language changes.  Being able to create web pages better
and faster is great, but if your programming language is actually
saving lives by analyzing CAT scan data or something like that, then
that's really something to be proud of.   And if the makers of that
software say they could do a better job with feature X that seems
pretty compelling.

--bb