Good idea, for many applications such an extension would be 'good enough'. 1) python code using such arrays should be 100% compatible with numarray/numeric/scipy. Should be possible if a sub-set of numeric/numarray/scipy is used. 2) Extensions written in C should handle such arrays transparently (without unnecessary copying). Should also be possible given a compatible data layout. Peter
To all interested in the future of arrays...
I'm still very committed to Numeric3 as I want to bring the numarray and Numeric people together behind a single array object for scientific computing.
But, I've been thinking about the array protocol and thinking that it would be a good thing if this became universal. One of the ways to make it universal is by having something that follows it in the Python core.
So, what if we proposed for the Python core not something like Numeric3 (which would still exist in scipy.base and be everybody's favorite array :-) ), but a very minimal array object (scaled back even from Numeric) that followed the array protocol and had some C-API associated with it.
This minimal array object would support 5 basic types ('bool', 'integer', 'float', 'complex', 'Object'). (Maybe a void type could be defined and a void "scalar" introduced (which would be the bytes object)). These types correspond to scalars already available in Python and so the whole 0-dim array Python scalar arguments could be ignored.
Math could be done without ufuncs initially (people really needing speed would use scipy.base anyway). But, more people in the Python community would be able to use arrays and get used to them. And we would have a reference array_protocol object so that extension writers could write to it.
I would not try a project like this until after scipy_core is out, but it's an interesting thing to think about. I mainly wanted feedback on the basic concept.
An alternative would be to "add" multidimensionality to the array object already part of Python, fix it's reallocating with an exposed buffer problem, and add the array protocol.