[BioPython] Some Biopython news, plans, and grants

[Brad Chapman]

Hello everyone;
As some of you may have noticed, I've been relatively absent from
the Biopython lists over the last couple of months. This was due to
the unfortunate arrival of dissertation and defense time for me;
thankfully all of my painful finishing work is, well, finished and I
am happily in PhD land as of this upcoming Saturday.

What that means is that I'm going to make a concerted effort to go
through the mailing list and try and sort out problems and bugs that
have been posted that no one has been able to get to. I'd like this
to lead up to a semi-soonish release, and then we'll worry about
what goes from there.

For the upcoming release, I'll stay simple. The main things I'd 
like to do before release are:

-> Cleaning up bugs, problems from the mailing lists. This will take
a bit; there are a lot of things that need attention.

-> Move from using Numeric (Numpy, Numerical Python) to Numarray
(http://www.stsci.edu/resources/software_hardware/numarray). Since
development on this package is now entirely focused on Numarray, I
think it makes the most sense for us to migrate over.

That's it. Pretty simple. Besides a new release, another idea I'd
like to toss out there is trying to write a grant for the Python
Software Foundation to get money to "hire" someone to help with
Biopython documentation. The PSF is accepting proposals up until
October 1st:

http://www.python.org/psf/call-2004.html

Jeff pointed this out to me, and I think it is the perfect chance to
try and find some individuals who might be motivated by supplemental
financial gain to work on improving Biopython documentation. If
there is anyone who has any interest in this, let me know, and I can
start trying to imagine specifics for writing the proposal.

Hope everyone is doing well. Boo dissertations. Yay Biopython.

Brad