[Numpy-discussion] future directions

David Cournapeau cournape at gmail.com
Sat Aug 29 01:41:45 EDT 2009


On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Robert Kern<robert.kern at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 09:15, Christopher Barker<Chris.Barker at noaa.gov> wrote:
>> Joe Harrington wrote:
>>> However, there are two natural forklets coming up.
>>>
>>> The first is Python 3.0, which will necessitate some API changes.
>>
>> Absolutely! This seems like a no-brainer. I don't think we are talking
>> about really major changes to the numpy API anyway, generally clean-up,
>> and there is no way anyone is going to get their Py2 code working on Py3
>> without tweaking it anyway, this is the time to do it.
>
> No, it is the *worst* time to do it. We have been asked by the Python
> developer team *not* to use the Python 3 transition to break all kinds
> of other backwards compatibility.

AFAIK, the main argument is that this would allow for easier
transition, since someone could use 2to3 to make the transition from
numpy for python 2 to numpy for python 3. But is it even possible for
a large package like numpy ? I don't see how the C api for example
could be backward compatible, since the API with PyString and PyInt
would have to be changed.

I guess time will tell, once other package with a lof of C will be
converted. I am curious to see whether this advice from the python dev
community will be followed at all.

cheers,

David



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