Re: [Visualpython-users] Python 2.5

[Bruce S. <Bru...@nc...>]

Just to try to keep the record straight: Isn't it the case that fink 
touches ONLY its own directory, /sw? I don't see how it can "corrupt" 
the system.

Mind you, I do very much want to eliminate dependence on fink and X11, 
for a host of good reasons, most especially because I keep getting notes 
from people saying they were unable to fight their way through a 
fink-based installation. One of the problems is that I and others have 
run into a problem that isn't fink's fault but which comes up in the 
fink/X11 context, which is that the Apple installer for X11 and/or Xcode 
fails to work properly, with no indication of the failure, and merely 
running the Apple installer again fixes the problem (not something that 
would occur to most users). So there's plenty of blame to go around in 
that non-user-friendly environment.

Bruce

Eric Ayars wrote:

>I (or my department if I can find a way to get a receipt for the  
>software "purchase") will contribute $50 towards a bounty for a Mac  
>OSX non-fink non-X11 "universal" standard-installer-package version  
>of vpython. Something I could pass out to students on CD's with  
>"double-click here" install instructions... and I know Bruce just  
>well enough that "To Bruce Sherwood's satisfaction" is sufficient for  
>me, too.
>
>At present, I use Parallels Desktop running Ubuntu to demo vpython on  
>this Mac in classes, rather than corrupt my system with fink...
>
>-ea
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Dr. Eric Ayars
>Assistant Professor of Physics
>California State University, Chico
>ay...@ma...
>
>
>On Oct 6, 2006, at 2:15 PM, Scott David Daniels wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Bruce Sherwood wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>There are two rather different routes toward supporting Visual on  
>>>Python
>>>2.5. The better route is to work with Visual 4, since that's what  
>>>we all
>>>want to use, given its greatly enhanced graphics capabilities.  
>>>However,
>>>if changing to Numpy doesn't require much effort (I have no idea), it
>>>would be good to put that into Visual 3, because there are some  
>>>serious
>>>problems with Visual 4, the most worrisome being the following
>>>(extracted from summary in Recent Developments section of  
>>>vpython.org):
>>>
>>>    1) Mouse interactions on Windows, including  
>>>scene.mouse.getclick(),
>>>    are associated with crashes. A tight loop without a rate()  
>>>statement
>>>    may crash or be hard to kill.
>>>
>>>    2) Some animations run in a jerky manner due to slow rendering of
>>>    the scene. The program gas.py is an example. The issue may be  
>>>that
>>>    the detail level on spheres needs to be decreased.
>>>
>>>    3) Graphing (from visual.graph import *) works well for many  
>>>simple
>>>    uses, but if the axes must be continually adjusted it can be very
>>>    slow. If you know the extent of your variables and can specify  
>>>xmax
>>>    and ymax for the graph, the graphing is very fast.
>>>
>>>I feel competent to deal with 3) and probably with 2) if it is just a
>>>matter of reducing the level of detail. But I don't feel competent to
>>>track down and fix problem 1), which might well involve tricky
>>>multithread issues. (For the graphing issue it is necessary to do  
>>>some
>>>work analogous to some coding I've already experimented with,  
>>>having to
>>>do with supporting different scale factors in x and y.)
>>>
>>>And there's the long-standing issue of finding someone to write a Mac
>>>version of the platform-specific files in Visual that handle  
>>>creating a
>>>window and handling mouse and keyset events, so that there could be a
>>>Mac-native version of VPython, not dependent on running X11 and  
>>>fink and
>>>difficult opaque installs. Hugh Fisher in Australia indicated  
>>>recently
>>>that he might be able to get free to do this in the near future.
>>>
>>>If we could get over the hump of having a usable Visual 4 for Windows
>>>and Mac (as far as I know it works fine on Linux), perhaps we would
>>>attract some new developers who could contribute, because Visual 4  
>>>comes
>>>much closer to offering "professional-grade" graphics likely to  
>>>interest
>>>people in the graphics area.
>>>      
>>>
>>You might consider offering a bounty for those projects (A: mouse
>>interaction, B: run on OS/X, C: move 4 to Numpy, D: move 3 to Numpy).
>>You might even solicit contributions to the bounty from your users.
>>Slightly tricky parts would be definitions of "acceptably solved",
>>though Bruce Sherwood's name has been associated with the project
>>for long enough that "to his satisfaction" may be an adequate
>>definition.  I'd be interested in working on the problem, but need
>>to keep a modicum of cash coming in, and you might well find someone
>>with the right mix of ability and cheap time to work on it.
>>
>>-- Scott David Daniels
>>Sco...@Ac...
>>
>>
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>>
>
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