2009/10/20 Stefan Krah <stefan-use...@bytereef.org>: > Hi, > > as some of you know, recently I've released an arbitrary precision > C library for decimal arithmetic together with a Python module: > > http://www.bytereef.org/libmpdec.html > http://www.bytereef.org/fastdec.html > > > Both the library and the module have been tested extensively. Fastdec > currently differs from decimal.py in a couple of ways that could be > fixed. The license is AGPL, but if there is interest in integrating it > into Python I'd release it under a Python-compatible license. > > > There have been several approaches towards getting C decimal arithmetic > into Python: > > http://bugs.python.org/issue2486 > > > Fastdec follows Raymond Hettinger's suggestion to provide wrappers for > an independent C implementation. Arguments in favour of fastdec are: > > * Complete implementation of Mike Cowlishaw's specification > > * C library can be tested independently > > * Redundant arithmetic module for tests against decimal.py > > * Faster than Java BigDecimal > > * Compares relatively well in speed against gmpy > > > To be clear, I would not want to _replace_ decimal.py. Rather I'd like to > see a cdecimal module alongside decimal.py.
Why? If it's 100% compatible with decimal.py, just replace it. All the user should see is improved speed. Let's not do another pickle/cpickle. > I know that ultimately there should be a PEP for module inclusions. The > purpose of this post is to gauge interest. Specifically: > > > 1. Are you generally in favour of a C decimal module in Python? Yes, although I have to admit my interest is fairly theoretical. > 2. Would fastdec - after achieving full decimal.py compatibility - be > a serious candidate? I don't see why not, if it was 100% compatible with decimal.py > 3. Could I use this list to settle a couple of questions, or would perhaps > a Python developer be willing to work with me to make it compatible? I'm > asking this to avoid doing work that would not find acceptance afterwards. I can't help much here, but I'd prefer to see discussions on python-dev so I'm +1 on keeping discussions here. Waiting eagerly to hear the experts' comments... Paul. _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com