Numeric Soup

[Robert Kern]

Erik Johnson wrote:
>     I am just starting to explore doing some scientific type data analysis
> using Python, and am a little confused by the different incarnations of
> modules (e.g., try Google("Python numeric").
> 
>     There is SciPy, NumPy, NumArray, Numeric...  I know some of these are
> related and some are separate, some are oudated, etc. but can someone sort
> of give a general run-down in layman's terms of what's what, what's used for
> what, what depends on what, and what's current?

http://www.scipy.org/History_of_SciPy

numpy is the current array package and supercedes Numeric and numarray. scipy
provides a bunch of computational routines (linear algebra, optimization,
statistics, signal processing, etc.) built on top of numpy.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
 that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
 an underlying truth."
  -- Umberto Eco