[Numpy-discussion] Advice on converting Numarray C extension?

[Russell E. Owen]

I have an old Numarray C extension (or, rather, a Python package 
containing a C extension) that I would like to convert to numpy
(in a way that is likely to be supported long-term).

Options I have found include:

- Use the new numpy extension. This seems likely to be fast and 
future-proof. But I am finding the documentation slow going. Does anyone 
know of a simple example (e.g. read in an array, create a new array)?

- Use the Numarray compatible C API. Simple (and takes advantage of the 
nice Numarray tutorial example for documentation), but will this be 
supported in the long term?

- Switch to ctypes. Simple in concept. But I'm wondering if I can get 
distutils to build the resulting package.

- Use SWIG. I have some experience with it, but not with numpy arrays.

- Use Cython to replace the C code. No idea if this is a long-term 
supported package.

Another option is to try to rewrite in pure python. Perhaps the numpy 
indexing is sophisticated enough to allow an efficient solution. The C 
extension computes a radial profile from a 2-d masked array:
  radProf(r)= sum of all unmasked pixels at radius r about some 
specified center index
I can easily generate (and cache) a 2-d array of radius index, but is it 
possible to use that to efficiently generate the desired sum?

Any opinions?

-- Russell