[Numpy-discussion] Proposal for making of Numarray a real Numeric 'NG'

Jason Rennie jrennie at csail.mit.edu
Fri Jan 21 07:58:55 EST 2005


On Fri, Jan 21, 2005 at 02:13:45PM +0100, Francesc Altet wrote:
> """
> If you are new to Numerical Python, please use Numarray. The older module,
> Numeric, is unsupported.  At this writing Numarray is slower for very small
> arrays but faster for large ones. Numarray contains facilities to help you
> convert older code to use it. Some parts of the community have not made the
> switch yet but the Numarray libraries have been carefully named differently
> so that Numeric and Numarray can coexist in one application.
> """

Another problem is that Numeric is extremely poorly advertised/marketed.

- There is no single keyword for Numeric: it is referred to as "Numerical",
  "Numeric" and "numpy".  Both "Numerical" and "numpy" are also used to
  refer to numarray.

- Numeric does not have a home page of its own.  The Sourceforge
  "Numerical" page lists both numarray and Numeric (which, coincidentally,
  is referred to as "numpy").

- The #1 & #2 Google results for "numeric python" are the numpy.org
  page, which is out-of-date, and advertises numarray as being a replacement
  for Numeric.  Plus, what appears to be the main link for Numeric,
  "Release 22.0" points to a page with both numarray and Numeric
  releases, numarray first, and Numeric releases named "numpy".  Could
  you try to be more confusing?

- None of the top 10 Google links for "numeric python" point to the 
  Sourceforge page.

- A "numeric python" search on sourceforge lists 24 projects before the
  Numerical Python page.

Jason




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