[Python-Dev] Clarification sought about including a multidimensional array object into Python core

[Travis Oliphant]

David Ascher wrote:

>I've not followed the num* discussion in quite a while, but my
>impression back then was that there wasn't "one" such community. 
>Instead, the technical differences in the approaches required in
>specific fields, regarding things like the relative importance of
>memory profiles, speed, error handling, willingness to require modern
>C++ compilers, etc. made practical compromises quite tricky.
>  
>

I really appreciate comments from those who remember some of the old 
discussions.

There are indeed some different needs.  Most of this, however, is in the 
ufunc object (how do you do math with the arrays).   And, a lot of this 
has been ameliorated with the new concepts of error modes that numarray 
introduced.

There is less argumentation over the basic array object as a memory 
structure.   The biggest argument right now is the design of the object: 
i.e.  a mixture of Python and C (numarray) versus a C-only object 
(Numeric3).

In other words, what I'm saying is that in terms of how the array object 
should be structure, a lot is known.  What is more controversial is 
should the design be built upon Numarray's object structure (a mixture 
of Python and C), or on Numeric's --- all in C

-Travis