[Python-Dev] Google Summer of Code proposal: improvement of long int and adding new types/modules.

[Alex Martelli]

On 4/21/06, Mateusz Rukowicz <mateusz.rukowicz at vp.pl> wrote:
   ...
> So I think the most valuable of my ideas would be improving long int +
> coding decimal in C. Anyway, I think it would be possible to add other
> ideas later.

I see "redo Decimal in C" (possibly with the addition of some fast
elementary transcendentals) and "enhance operations on longs"
(multiplication first and foremost, and base-conversions probably
next, as you suggested -- possibly with the addition of some fast
number-theoretical functions) as two separate projects, each of just
about the right magnitude for an SoC project. I would be glad to
mentor either (not both); my preference would be for the former -- it
appears to me that attempting to do both together might negatively
impact both.  Remember, it isn't just the coding...: thorough testing,
good docs, accurate performance measurements on a variety of
platforms, ..., are all important part of a project that, assuming
success, it's scheduled to become a core part of Python 2.6, after
all.


Alex