switching to numpy and failing, a user story

[Travis Oliphant]

greg.landrum at gmail.com wrote:
> Travis E. Oliphant wrote:
> 
> 
> Given the quality of python's (free) documentation and how good it's
> been for a very long time, it's bit ironic to be using the phrase
> "normal open-source documentation" on this mailing list. Numeric
> python, which numpy aspires to be a replacement for, has perfectly
> reasonable documentation. 

And it is still perfectly useful.  Only a couple of details have 
changed.  The overall description is still useful.

It wasn't perfect, but it told you pretty
> much everything you needed to know to get started, use the system, and
> build extension modules. I guess this set my expectations for NumPy.
> 

This documentation was written largely due to funding from a national 
laboratory.  I didn't have those resources.  If somebody wanted to step 
up to the plate and make me an offer, the NumPy docs could be free as 
well.  So far, people have been content to buy it a piece at a time.

> 
> "Ask on the mailing lists" is viable for the occasional question or
> detail, but it's not really an efficient way to get started with a
> system. At least not for me. But that's fine, I have something that
> works (numeric), and I can do what I need to do there.


Absolutely,  that's the advantage of open source.  If the world moves a 
head you don't *have* to.  It's entirely your choice. There is no lock-in.


-Travis