[Numpy-discussion] Proposed Roadmap Overview

[Warren Weckesser]

On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 4:39 PM, Travis Oliphant <travis@continuum.io>wrote:

> Mark Wiebe and I have been discussing off and on (as well as talking with
> Charles) a good way forward to balance two competing desires:
>
>        * addition of new features that are needed in NumPy
>        * improving the code-base generally and moving towards a more
> maintainable NumPy
>
> I know there are load voices for just focusing on the second of these and
> avoiding the first until we have finished that.  I recognize the need to
> improve the code base, but I will also be pushing for improvements to the
> feature-set and user experience in the process.
>
> As a result, I am proposing a rough outline for releases over the next
> year:
>
>        * NumPy 1.7 to come out as soon as the serious bugs can be
> eliminated.  Bryan, Francesc, Mark, and I are able to help triage some of
> those.
>
>        * NumPy 1.8 to come out in July which will have as many
> ABI-compatible feature enhancements as we can add while improving test
> coverage and code cleanup.   I will post to this list more details of what
> we plan to address with it later.    Included for possible inclusion are:
>        * resolving the NA/missing-data issues
>        * finishing group-by
>        * incorporating the start of label arrays
>        * incorporating a meta-object
>        * a few new dtypes (variable-length string, varialbe-length unicode
> and an enum type)
>        * adding ufunc support for flexible dtypes and possibly structured
> arrays
>        * allowing generalized ufuncs to work on more kinds of arrays
> besides just contiguous
>        * improving the ability for NumPy to receive JIT-generated function
> pointers for ufuncs and other calculation opportunities
>        * adding "filters" to Input and Output
>        * simple computed fields for dtypes
>        * accepting a Data-Type specification as a class or JSON file
>        * work towards improving the dtype-addition mechanism
>        * re-factoring of code so that it can compile with a C++ compiler
> and be minimally dependent on Python data-structures.
>
>        * NumPy 2.0 to come out in January of 2013.   Mark Wiebe and I will
> post to this list a document that explains some of it's proposed features
> and enhancements.    I won't steal his thunder for some of the things he is
> working on.
>
> If there are code issues people would like to see addressed, it would be a
> great time to speak up and/or propose something that you would like to see.
>


The above list looks great.  Another request that comes up occasionally on
the mailing list is for the efficient computation of order statistics, the
simplest case being a combined min/max function.  Longish thread starts
here: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.python.numeric.general/44130/

Warren



> In general NumPy 1.8 will have new features that need to be explored in
> order that NumPy 2.0 has enough code "experience" in order to be as useful
> as possible.   I recognize that NumPy 1.8 has quite a few proposed
> features.   These have been building up and are the big reason I've
> committed so many resources to NumPy.   The feature-list did not just come
> out of my head.   They are the result of talking and interacting with many
> NumPy users and watching the code get used (and not used) in the real
> world.    This will be a faster pace of development.   But, all of this
> will be in the open.    If the NumPy 2.0 schedule is too aggressive, then
> we will have a NumPy 1.9 release in order to allow features to come out.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Travis
>
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