[Numpy-discussion] Numpy complex types, packing and C99

[David Cournapeau]

Hi,

    I would like to add an explicit configuration test to check that our
complex type is compatible with the C99 complex type (when available).
Is this ok ?

    As currently defined, complex c types (npy_cfloat, etc...) are not
defined in a way such as they are binary compatible with the C99 complex
type. Strictly speaking, packing the complex type is an ABI break, but
we already make the assumption in ufunc, so we would have wrong
results/crashes currently if it were not packed, so I believe the check
is harmless by itself. The rationale is that I would like to add support
for complex math in npy_math (cabs, cexp, etc...). As I would like to
use the C99 complex type (when available), this requires that numpy
complex type is ABI compatible with C99 type.

cheers,

David