[MMTK] ScientificPython 2.7.9 and the switch from Numeric to NumPy

[Konrad Hinsen]

I have recently released ScientificPython 2.7.9, which is probably  
the last release in the 2.7 series. Except for bug fixes, this will  
become the next stable release 2.8. At the same time, it will use  
NumPy by default, but support for the old Numeric module will remain  
available through an installation-time option.

This has implications for MMTK users as well, because MMTK uses the  
same Numeric package that ScientificPython was compiled for. With the  
switch to ScientificPython 2.8, the default for MMTK will thus also  
be NumPy rather than Numeric.

I have tested ScientificPython and MMTK with NumPy for many months on  
my own machines, so I am fairly confident that everything works as  
expected. However, more testing is always better. If any of you wants  
to join the testing effort, please go ahead and install  
ScientificPython for NumPy use (option --numpy at compile/ 
installation time, as explained in the README) and then reinstall  
MMTK from sources.

A word of caution: pickle files are not compatible between Numeric  
and NumPy. When you switch to NumPy, you won't be able to read pickle  
files for MMTK objects (functions save/load) that you created using  
Numeric. There isn't much I can do about this, unfortunately.

Konrad.
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Konrad Hinsen
Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS Orléans
Synchrotron Soleil - Division Expériences
Saint Aubin - BP 48
91192 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
Tel. +33-1 69 35 97 15
E-Mail: hinsen at cnrs-orleans.fr
Web: http://dirac.cnrs-orleans.fr/~hinsen/
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