Wow, thanks to all who replied. I'll try to address some of the raised eyebrows now, and answer the more technical ones later.
My goal was an easier way to do some analysis that would require more than simple shell scripts. Or rather, a way to do some things that would probably be easier in a higher level language. I just so happen to do a lot in Python, and I think it's a relatively simple language to pick up, and its syntax looks like pseudocode. Some more complicated scripts can get hard to follow with lots of system calls, stringing together variables, or keeping track of and deleting temporary files. I think that a Python package could be more user friendly by making a simple interface and taking care of that sort of thing automatically and invisibly. Also it could take advantage of some of the more interesting Python capabilities such as using distributed tasks (multiprocessor/multi-machine), pre-written data processing libraries, image libraries, etc. Since, as has been pointed out, the same code can run essentially unmodified on any modern system that can run Radiance, there is the possibility that this can create an easy way to exchange ideas and create novel approaches to analysis. The architecture scripting community is surprisingly active. However, all I really wanted to do initially was provide a simple interface back to Radiance, then step back and maintain/optimize it. I hadn't given much technical thought other than it ought to at least start out as a wrapper program. Because of the modularity of it all, that could be changed later. I wasn't really aiming to replace things like the csh scripts, although this would make it easy for someone to do so if they wanted. I wanted for it to be as transparent as possible through to Radiance proper. Finally, I really appreciate the volunteers. I'm not a programming novice, but I'm certainly not a guru either. Collaboration is much appreciated. I've registered a Google code page (for now, Mercurial, because I've never used it and want to learn it - I hear it's like subversion with the benefits of git) at http://code.google.com/p/python-radiance . I think that the conversation should be continued in the code-development thread, where it will likely get more technical. --Dave On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 1:33 PM, Randolph M. Fritz <[email protected]> wrote: > If people are interested, the Labs is offering subversion server space on > one of our servers. When we get the website update project a bit further > along, we'll be able to give the project a page, too. > > -- > Randolph M. Fritz • [email protected] > Environmental Energy Technologies Division • Lawrence Berkeley Labs > > > > > On 2010-11-08 08:58:45 -0800, Thomas Bleicher said: > >> On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 11:36 AM, Greg Ward <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Well, it sounds like there is significant groundswell around this idea. >>> I suggest that interested parties/developers organize a host site for >>> this effort and someone (Dave?) take charge of the project. >> >> Google code projects are easy to set up and almost everyone >> in this thread already has a gmail account. It may be more difficult >> to find a source control system that everybody agrees on ... >> >>> Ongoing maintenance is something to think about as well, >>> as new Radiance releases will likely continue to have some >>> minor changes and some major additions. >> >> Since everybody is happy with a simple 'subprocess' wrapper >> around the Radiance binaries there shouldn't be much ongoing >> maintenance. Python 2 vs 3 is more likely to cause additional >> work than the Radiance interface. >> >> However, I can see that an additional advantage of this project >> could be that the remaining CSH scripts (and possibly Perl scripts) >> in the main Radiance distribution get finally pythonized. In that >> case should the new scripts be kept separately or should they >> find their way back into the distribution? >> >> Thomas > > > -- > Randolph M. Fritz • [email protected] > Environmental Energy Technologies Division • Lawrence Berkeley Labs > > > > _______________________________________________ > Radiance-general mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.radiance-online.org/mailman/listinfo/radiance-general > _______________________________________________ Radiance-dev mailing list [email protected] http://www.radiance-online.org/mailman/listinfo/radiance-dev
