Re: [Numpy-discussion] Status of Numeric

[Konrad H. <hi...@cn...>]

On 19.01.2004, at 21:32, Travis Oliphant wrote:

> These are the two options we can see:
> * freeze old Numeric 23.x  and make all changes to Numeric 24.x  still=20
> keeping Numeric separate from  SciPy
> * freeze old Numeric 23.x and subsume Numeric into SciPy essentially=20
> creating a new SciPy arrayobject that is fast and lightweight. =20
> Anybody wanting this new array object would get it by installing=20
> scipy_base.  Numeric would never change in the future but the array in=20
> scipy_base would.

That depends on the exact nature of the changes. My view is that any=20
package that is upwards-compatible with Numeric (except for bug fixes=20
of course) should be called Numeric and distributed as such. Any=20
package that is intentionally incompatible with Numeric in some=20
important aspect should not be called Numeric. There is a lot of code=20
out there that builds on Numeric, and some of it is hardly maintained=20
any more, although there are still users around. Those users expect to=20
be able to upgrade Numeric without breaking their code.

Konrad.