[Numpy-discussion] F2PY future

[Bill Baxter]

I'm afraid I'm not much help answering your questions.  But one thing
I've wondered about f2py is if it could be generalized into an f2***
tool.  How intertwined is the analysis of the fortran with the
synthesis of the python?  There are lots of languages that could
benefit from a fortran wrapper generator tool.

--bb

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 8:07 PM, Pearu Peterson <pearu@cens.ioc.ee> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>  I am in a process of writing a scientific paper about F2PY that will
>  provide an automatic solution to the Python and Fortran connection
>  problem. While writing it, I also need to decide what will be the future
>  of F2PY. In particulary, I have the following main questions to which I
>  am looking for suggestions:
>  1) where the future users of F2PY should find it,
>  2) how the users can get support (documentation, mailing lists, etc).
>  3) where to continue the development of F2PY.
>
>  Currently, F2PY has three "home pages":
>  1) http://cens.ioc.ee/projects/f2py2e/ - this has old f2py. The old f2py
>  is unique in that it covers Numeric and numarray support, but is
>  not being developed anymore.
>  2) http://www.scipy.org/F2py - this covers the current f2py included
>  in NumPy. f2py in numpy is rather stable and is being maintained. There
>  is no plans to add new functionalities (like F90 derived type support)
>  to the numpy f2py.
>  3) http://projects.scipy.org/scipy/numpy/wiki/G3F2PY - this is a
>  wiki page for the third generation of f2py. It aims at adding full
>  Fortran 90/../2003 support to the f2py tool, including F90 derived types
>  as well as POINTER arguments. It should replace numpy f2py in future.
>
>  Obviosly, the three "home pages" for f2py is too much, even when they
>  cover three different code sets. So, now I am looking for to unify these
>  places to one site that will cover all three code sets with software,
>  documentation, and support.
>
>  Currently I can think of the following options:
>
>  Use Google Code. Pros: it provides necessary infrastructure to develop
>  software projects and I am used to it. Cons: in my experience Google
>  Code has been too many times broken (at least three times in half a
>  year), though this may improve in future. Also, Google Code provides
>  only SVN, no hg.
>
>  Since f2py will be an important tool for numpy/scipy users,
>  it would be natural to continue developing f2py under these projects.
>  However, there are rumours of cleaning up scipy/numpy from extension
>  generation tools and so in long term, f2py may need to look for another
>  home. So, I wonder if a hosting could be provided for f2py? Say, in a
>  form of f2py.scipy.org or www.f2py.org? I am rather ignorant about these
>  matters, so any help will be appreciated.
>
>  Thanks,
>  Pearu
>
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