[IPython-user] Traits and IPython (was: IPython development news and prospects)

[Darren Dale]

Hello All,

I think we should move the discussion concerning a traits dependency to a 
separate thread.

To summaraize, Fernando developed a config-file module called TConfig, which 
mates the ConfigObj module with the Traits package. We have already 
implemented a TConfig-based system in matplotlib for testing purposes, which 
is turned off by default. Now, to pick up where the discussion left off:

On Tuesday 15 January 2008 01:56:59 pm Francesc Altet wrote:
> [...]
>
> > > The only downside tconfig has is a dependence on Enthought Traits,
> > > which has C code.  The upsides are vast, including a *clean* way of
> > > handling many of the configuration-related problems that pop up
> > > here all the time.  We can have a separate discussion thread for
> > > this topic later if you want, because I think it's the only
> > > potentially contentious one and we don't want to ram it down
> > > anyone's throat.
> >
> > I think having C code in the project will be a major drawback in
> > getting new developers on windows. Getting a compiler working can be
> > a lot of work. But the positive aspects of using something trait-like
> > seems it could definitely be worth it.
>
> Yeah, and not only that, but also the deployment of ipython would be
> more difficult for people that just wants to give ipython a quick try
> (and that would be valid for all platforms).  So, I would avoid
> including C code in ipython.  If you really need Traits, I wonder is
> there is a plain python implementation for it (after all, my guess is
> that ipython is not needing a lot of performance on that side).

I don't understand the resistance to depending on a package that includes 
extension code. I could better understand resistance to adding external 
dependencies of any kind, but as long as they are easy to install, does it 
make a difference if they include extension code? The inclusion of TConfig 
would not add any C-code to the IPython codebase, so it shouldn't be a 
drawback to new developers on windows.

Darren