[Numpy-discussion] Going toward time-based release ?

[Pierre GM]

On Monday 12 May 2008 13:48:55 you wrote:
> 1.  It seemed to me that a lot of the users of the old ma
> implementation called it from np.core.  Since the new implementation
> doesn't get called from there, would it make sense to have the old
> implementation reside in np.core rather than in np.oldnumeric?

That sounds like a good idea if np.oldnumeric is to disappear very soon. If 
not, maybe we could have np.core.ma points to np.oldnumeric.ma (or just do 
a "from np.oldnumeric.ma import *")

> 2.  Should we add an import warning to the old implementation
> explaining the change.  Something like "np.core.ma (or
> np.oldnumeric.ma) is deprecated.  It is no longer being supported, so
> it will no longer receive bug fixes.  Please consider using np.ma.  In
> 1.3, np.core.ma is moving to np.oldnumeric.ma.

Sounds good.

> Any comments on whether this would be helpful or useful.  Is there
> anything else we should consider to ease the pains caused by this
> transition?

A wiki page on www.scipy.org where we would (1) describe the API changes (it's 
now hidden in the DeveloperZone); (2) suggest some simple solutions to common 
problems.
The (1) is easy to do, the (2) would be updated when needed.