[Numpy-discussion] contribution about history of Numeric

[Paul D. <pfd...@gm...>]

I was reading the 'History of SciPy' page and noticed the discussion about
Numeric. Here's the true story about why the various names for the original:
numpy, Numeric, Numerical.

At the time Source Forge was pretty young, and I decided to put the project
there. We all said 'numpy' informally not Numerical Python but the module
name was Numeric. I created the project as numpy. I have no memory of why I
didn't call it Numeric, but if it wasn't a conflict, probably I was focused
on making it clear it was for Python and/or easy to type. (the FTP's etc.
all had to go through a long directory path that involved the name). The
documentation for the CVS stuff was confusing, and I made a mistake with my
first submit of 'Numeric' (I think it was ending up with everything in
Numeric/Numeric) and then discovered I could not delete it; you had to ask
the Source Forge staff. Impatient, I did a second submit as Numerical.

In short, all my fault, but then again, SF was so security-minded that it
was hard to do anything. That's why I soon gave up on their website and
hosted it at my own site for so long.