Re: Project for Cython integration with NumPy
Stéfan van der Walt <stefan <at> sun.ac.za>
2008-04-01 06:39:10 GMT
Hi Dag
On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 12:52 AM, Dag Sverre Seljebotn
<dagss <at> student.matnat.uio.no> wrote:
> > I am going to apply for a Google Summer of Code project about "Developing
> > Cython towards better NumPy integration" (Cython: http://cython.org).
> > Anyone interested in how this is done can have a look at the links below,
> > any feedback is welcome.
> >
>
> > The application I am going to submit (to Python Foundation):
> > http://wiki.cython.org/DagSverreSeljebotn/soc
>
> I now have time to actively discuss and improve it so any feedback from
> the NumPy community is greatly appreciated.
Sorry for only responding now; I was traveling back from Europe.
The project your propose has important implications for NumPy.
Currently, much of the core is implemented in C and very few people
have in-depth knowledge of its inner workings. We therefore have
fewer eyes on that code than we'd like. Furthermore, there are only
two ways of extending the core: 1) use Python callbacks, which are
slow or 2) learn the C API and deal with reference counting -- too
much to ask from a scientist who simply wishes to implement a fast
algorithm.
There are also some other projects, like scipy.ndimage, that could do
with a fair bit of refactoring, and this task would be so much easier
if Cython could generate the C-level ndarray code; we have precious
little developer resources available as it is, and would rather spend
it on solving problems than on arranging low-level API calls.
Having the following implemented would already be a vast improvement
on the current situation:
- Array indexing
x[1,2]
x[1:2,3:4]
x[1,...]
x[1,:]
- Assignment
x[1,2] = 3
x[1,...] = 1
...
- Calling array methods:
y = x.sum()
Doing this would be easier with Travis Oliphant's numpy developer's
reference at hand, and, if I recall the page on scipy.org (which is
currently down) correctly, he would provide it to you free of charge
on request.
I am very excited about your proposal, and I really hope it takes off.
Let us know if there is anything we can do to help.
Best of luck,
Stéfan
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