Introduction
Proposed herein is a part-time fellowship for developing NumPy in PyPy.
The work will initially consist of 100 hours
with the possibility of extension, until the funds run out.
Development and improvement of PyPy's NumPyPy (as
with most Open Source and Free Software) is done as a collaborative process
between volunteer, paid, and academic contributors. Due to a successful funding
drive but a lack of contributors willing to work directly for PyPy, we find
ourselves in the enviable situation of being able to offer this position.
Background
PyPy's developers make all PyPy software available to the public
without charge, under PyPy's Open Source copyright license, the
permissive MIT License. PyPy's license assures that PyPy is equally
available to everyone freely on terms that allow both non-commercial
and commercial activity. This license allows for academics, for-profit
software developers, volunteers and enthusiasts alike to collaborate
together to make a better Python implementation for everyone.
NumPy support for PyPy is licensed similarly, and therefore NumPy in
PyPy support can directly help researchers and developers who seek to
do numeric computing but want an easier programming language to use
than Fortan or C, which is typically used for these
applications. Being licensed freely to the general public means that
opportunities to use, improve and learn about how NumPy in PyPy works
itself will be generally available to everyone.
The Need for a Part-Time Developer
NumPy project in PyPy has seen some slow, but steady progress since we started
working about a year ago. On one hand,
it's actually impressive what we could deliver with the effort undertaken,
on the other hand, we would like to see the development accelerated.
PyPy has strict coding, testing, documentation, and review standards,
which ensures excellent code quality, continually improving
documentation and code test coverage, and minimal regressions. A
part-time developer will be able to bring us closer to the goal of
full numpy-api implementation and speed improvements.
Work Plan
The current proposal is split into two parts:
Compatibility:
This part covers the core NumPy Python API. We'll implement most NumPy APIs
that are officially documented and we'll pass most of NumPy's tests that
cover documented APIs and are not implementation details.
Specifically, we don't plan to:
implement NumPy's C API
implement other scientific libraries, like SciPy, matplotlib or biopython
implement details that are otherwise agreed by consensus to not have a place
in PyPy's implementation of NumPy or agreed with NumPy community
to be implementation details
Speed:
This part will cover significant speed improvements in the JIT that would
make numeric computations faster. This includes, but is not necesarilly
limited to:
write a set of benchmarks covering various use cases
teaching the JIT backend (or multiple backends) how to deal with vector
operations, like SSE
experiments with automatic parallelization using multiple threads, akin
to numexpr
improving the JIT register allocator that will make a difference, especially
for tight loops
As with all speed improvements, it's relatively hard to predict exactly
how it'll cope, however we expect the results to be withing an order
of magnitude of handwritten C equivalent.
Position Candidate
We would like people who are proficient in NumPy and PyPy (but don't have to be
core developers of either) to step up. The developer selection will be done
by consensus of PyPy core developers and consulted with the Software Freedom
Conservancy for lack of conflict of interest. The main criterium will be
past contributions to the PyPy project, but they don't have to be significant
in size.
A candidate for the Developer position will demonstrate the following:
The ability to write clear, stable, suitable and tested code
The ability to understand and extend the JIT capabilities used in NumPyPy.
A positive presence in PyPy's online community on IRC and the mailing
list.
Ideally the Developer will also:
Have familiarity with the infrastructure of the PyPy project (including
bug tracker and buildbot).
Have Worked to provide education or outreach on PyPy in other forums such as
workshops, conferences, and user groups.
Conservancy and PyPy are excited to announce the Developer Position.
Renumeration for the position will be at the rate of 60 USD per hour, through
the Software Freedom Conservancy.
PyPy community is promising to provide necessary guidance and help into
the current codebase, however we expect a successful candidate to be able
to review code and incorporate external patches within two months of the
starting date of the contract.
Candidates should submit their proposal (including their CV) to:
pypy-z@python.org
The deadline for this initial round of proposals is February 1, 2013.