[Cython] array expressions

[Stefan Behnel]

mark florisson, 14.10.2012 13:59:
> The problem with minivect as a package is that it caters to different
> projects, which have different requirements. Cython and minivect are
> quite closely coupled, and any future change, or in the future any
> older version may not have the functionality Cython needs, it's not
> exactly a stable API at this point.

Ok, understood.


> For instance Numba needs python
> 2.7, whereas Cython needs to be compatible with python 2.4.
> 
> Before releasing minivect I'll verify every time that it doesn't break
> Cython, but I currently have no real promises for backwards or forward
> compatibility. And that is really because not all use cases have yet
> been anticipated, and some really require a change, as I've already
> seen with Numba.
> 
> We could list minivect as a dependency, which works for
> easy_install/pip users, but I just foresee numerous people running
> into problems that didn't install with pip, and I don't think an
> exclusion of a 300kb addition is worth any of that.

Fine. In that case, I'm for not making minivect a separate package at all
but including it directly and considering it a part of Cython (and Numba
etc.) until there is enough of an interface to make it a reusable separate
package, or at least to support a separate installation and independent
update. Basically, if you can't update it separately, there's no use in
installing it separately.

As long as we handle this so, we should take care to keep the generic parts
in their separate package directory and the Cython specific parts in
Cython, and try to keep the interface between the two as cleanly separate
as possible, so that we can actually reach a point where both have an
interface. I would guess that the need to support Numba from the same
source base will encourage this kind of separation anyway.

Note that this means that minivect will fall under the release schedules of
Cython and Numba (independently), instead of really having its own releases.

BTW, I would guess that no-one has tested hg with git subtrees yet?

Stefan