numpy/f2py/doc/bugs.tex

\section{Bugs, Plans, and Feedback}
\label{sec:bugs}

Currently no bugs have found that I was not able to fix.  I will be
happy to receive bug reports from you (so that I could fix them and
keep the first sentence of this paragraph as true as possible ;-).
Note that \fpy is developed to work properly with gcc/g77
compilers. 
\begin{description}
\item[NOTE:] Wrapping callback functions returning \texttt{COMPLEX}
  may fail on some systems. Workaround: avoid it by using callback
  subroutines.
\end{description}

Here follows a list of things that I plan to implement in (near) future:
\begin{enumerate}
\item recognize file types by their extension (signatures:
  \texttt{*.pyf}, Fortran 77, Fortran 90 fixed: \texttt{*.f, *.for, *.F, *.FOR},
  Fortran 90 free: \texttt{*.F90, *.f90, *.m, *.f95, *.F95}); [DONE]
\item installation using \texttt{distutils} (when it will be stable);
\item put out to the web examples of \fpy usages in real situations:
  wrapping \texttt{vode}, for example;
\item implement support for \texttt{PARAMETER} statement; [DONE]
\item rewrite test-site;
\item ...
\end{enumerate}
and here are things that I plan to do in future:
\begin{enumerate}
\item implement \texttt{intent(cache)} attribute for an optional work
  arrays with a feature of allocating additional memory if needed;
\item use \fpy for wrapping Fortran 90/95 codes. \fpy should scan
  Fortran 90/95 codes with no problems, what needs to be done is find
  out how to call a Fortran 90/95 function (from a module) from
  C. Anybody there willing to test \fpy with Fortran 90/95 modules? [DONE]
\item implement support for Fortran 90/95 module data; [DONE]
\item implement support for \texttt{BLOCK DATA} blocks (if needed);
\item test/document \fpy for \texttt{CHARACTER} arrays;
\item decide whether internal transposition of multi-dimensional
  arrays is reasonable (need efficient code then), even if this is
  controlled by the user trough some additional keyword; need
  consistent and safe policy here;
\item use \fpy for generating wrapper functions also for C programs (a
  kind of SWIG, only between Python and C). For that \fpy needs a
  command line switch to inform itself that C scalars are passed in by
  their value, not by their reference, for instance;
\item introduce a counter that counts the number of inefficient usages
  of wrapper functions (copying caused by type-casting, non-contiguous
  arrays);
\item if needed, make \texttt{DATA} statement to work properly for
  arrays;
\item rewrite \texttt{COMMON} wrapper; [DONE]
\item ...
\end{enumerate}
I'll appreciate any feedback that will improve \fpy (bug reports,
suggestions, etc). If you find a correct Fortran code that fails with
\fpy, try to send me a minimal version of it so that I could track
down the cause of the failure. Note also that there is no sense to
send me files that are auto-generated with \fpy (I can generate them
myself); the version of \fpy that you are using (run \texttt{\fpy\ 
  -v}), and the relevant fortran codes or modified signature files
should be enough information to fix the bugs. Also add some
information on compilers and linkers that you use to the bug report.


\section{History of \fpy}
\label{sec:history}

\begin{enumerate}
\item I was driven to start developing a tool such as \fpy after I had
  wrote several Python C/API modules for interfacing various Fortran
  routines from the Netlib. This work was tedious (some of functions
  had more than 20 arguments, only few of them made sense for the
  problems that they solved). I realized that most of the writing
  could be done automatically.
\item On 9th of July, 1999, the first lines of the tool was written. A
  prototype of the tool was ready to use in only three weeks. During
  this time Travis Oliphant joined to the project and shared his
  valuable knowledge and experience; the call-back mechanism is his
  major contribution.  Then I gave the tool to public under the name
  FPIG --- \emph{Fortran to Python Interface Generator}. The tool contained
  only one file \texttt{f2py.py}.
\item By autumn, it was clear that a better implementation was needed
  as the debugging process became very tedious. So, I reserved some
  time and rewrote the tool from scratch. The most important result of
  this rewriting was the code that reads real Fortran codes and
  determines the signatures of the Fortran routines. The main
  attention was payed in particular to this part so that the tool
  could read arbitrary Fortran~77/90/95 codes. As a result, the other
  side of the tools task, that is, generating Python C/API functions,
  was not so great. In public, this version of the tool was called
  \texttt{f2py2e} --- \emph{Fortran to Python C/API generator, the
    Second Edition}.
\item So, a month before The New Year 2000, I started the third
  iteration of the \fpy development. Now the main attention was to
  have a good C/API module constructing code. By 21st of January,
  2000, the tool of generating wrapper functions for Fortran routines
  was ready. It had many new features and was more robust than ever.
\item In 25th of January, 2000, the first public release of \fpy was
  announced (version 1.116).
\item In 12th of September, 2000, the second public release of \fpy was
  announced (version 2.264). It now has among other changes a support
  for Fortran 90/95 module routines.
\end{enumerate}

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