I couldn't put an exact date on when John began matplotlib, but its
sourceforge repository was registered in June of 2003. Python 2.2 was
the latest version available. Microsoft Windows XP was on the shelves,
Mac OS X was new to the scene, and Linux had yet to be made easy by the
likes of Ubuntu and Fedora. Facebook, Twitter and the smartphone
weren't yet available. And the idea of richly interactive and
productive applications running in the cloud was still considered
crazy. A decade is a long time for an open source project, and it's a
testament to John's hard work and keen decision-making that matplotlib
has thrived for so long and grown into such a large community of smart
and talented users and developers. Bravo, John.
To remain relevant in its second decade, matplotlib is being pulled
simultaneously in two directions. On the one hand, to handle larger and
more complex data, it needs to get closer to the hardware to make better
use of GPUs and multicore CPUs. On the other hand, it needs to become a
first-class member of the most important GUI of our time, the web
browser, and to do so without sacrificing any of the power and
flexibility it gets from being a Python library. Challenging stuff, but
not unattainable given the enormous brain trust we've got here.
Procedurally, one thing I've been feeling rather acutely lately is that
the firehose of github issues is not always the best way to track larger
changes. I'd like to propose that we set up an informal system of
"Matplotlib Enhancement Proposals" (MEPs) to manage larger changes to
matplotlib that might cut across a number of different subsystems.
Numpy puts these in their source code repository, but we may just want
to use the github wiki to make it even easier for non-developers to
contribute ideas. I'm not envisioning anything super formal here --
just something to keep track of the larger goals that won't get lost
among hundreds of smaller issues. Details can be discussed here (I'd
love suggestions from other projects) and I'll set something up soon.
I'm sure we all have our own pet projects we'd like to do "time willing"
and I look forward to discussing and making headway on some of those.
And back to the immediate future: we've got a release to get out: the
first release to support Python 3.x. Exciting times. Details to follow
in another e-mail thread.
John, thanks again for the honor and I hope I can follow your example of
leadership. They are big shoes to fill.
Mike
On 08/02/2012 05:25 PM, John Hunter wrote:
It is a great honor for me to announce that Michael Droettboom has
agreed to take on the role of lead developer of matplotlib. Since
Michael joined the project in 2007, he has been responsible for much
of the code that brought matplotlib from being an excellent tool to a
world class one. No one in the world understands the code from the
inside out like he does, and many of his contributions, while often
unseen at the surface, have laid the foundation for matplotlib to
reach further into the wild and wonderful things it can now do.
To name a few of his contributions: generic, optimized caching
transformations; dramatic backend simplification and rationalization;
countless optimizations; implementation of Knuth mathtex layouts;
python3 support, and dolphins! I like to tell people Michael codes
with the force of ten men, and he's an incredible asset to our team.
My role has been significantly diminished of late -- although I have
been the nominal lead developer, in practice I have been a release
manager. Unfortunately, I need to take some time to focus on family
health issues, but will continue to follow development and make
contributions as I can. We'll be looking for a release manager soon,
and if you are interested in stepping up, we'll welcome the effort.
We have a wonderful distributed development team using github pull
requests, and the line between core developers, project leaders and
plain-ole contributers is blurry. But I think it helps to have
someone thinking about the project as a whole, who is willing and able
to make decisions when necessary, and no one is better suited to doing
this than Michael.
I also extend my heartfelt thanks to Perry Greenfield and STScI. They
have been supporting matplotlib since 2004 with ideas, code and
developer resources. They employ Michael currently, and are part of
the reason why he is able to take on the leadership of this large
project.
Michael, many thanks.
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