[Numpy-discussion] Removing datetime support for 1.4.x series ?

[David Cournapeau]

Travis Oliphant wrote:

> I think we just signal the breakage in 1.4.1 and move forward.   The 
> datetime is useful as a place-holder for data.  Math on date-time arrays 
> just doesn't work yet.    I don't think removing it is the right 
> approach.    It would be better to spend the time on fleshing out the 
> ufuncs and conversion functions for date-time support.

Just so that there is no confusion: it is only about removing it for 
1.4.x, not about removing datetime altogether. It seems that datetime in 
1.4.x has few users, whereas breaking ABI is a nuisance for many more 
people. In particular, people who update NumPy 1.4.0 cannot use scipy or 
matplotlib unless they build it by themselves as well - we are talking 
about thousand of people at least assuming sourceforge numbers are accurate.

More fundamentally though, what is your opinion about ABI ? Am I right 
to understand you don't consider is as significant ?

David