[Numpy-discussion] Half baked C API?

[Travis Oliphant]

Ralf Juengling wrote:

>I recently took a closer at Numeric's and numarray's C APIs for
>the first time and was surprised not to find the counterparts 
>for all the array functions that are available in the Python API.
>
>  
>
How much to support on the C-API level is a question I am interested in 
right now.  

I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand, it is much simpler on the array 
package developer (which from my perspective seems to be the short-end 
of the current stick) to have a reduced C-API and require individuals 
who want to access the functionality to go through the 
PyObject_CallMethod approach.  We could perhaps provide a single 
function that made this a little simpler for arrays.

On the other hand, a parallel API that made available everything that 
was present in Python might "look nicer,"  be a little faster, and make 
it easier on the extension writer.

I'm interested in opinions,

-Travis