If I move things like FFT out of the core and make them separate packages, I am left with a choice: make them real packages, which means their usage would change, or structure the packages so that everything gets installed in the Python search path the way it does now. The first choice is better for the future, walling everything off into namespaces properly. The second choice doesn't break any existing code. The changes involve just namespace issues. Right now all of Numeric is installed as separate top-level modules. The same considerations apply somewhat to Numeric itself. By making the existing Numeric.py into the __init__.py for a Numeric package, nothing would break except imports of Precision and ArrayPrinter, which would have to become Numeric.Precision, etc. How much pain is the future worth?