[Biopython-dev] [Biopython] Getting involved

[Dragoslav Zaric]

Dear Peter,

I have subscribed to biopython-dev mailing list and I have downloaded
source code with git.

kind regards

On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 1:28 AM, Peter <biopython at maubp.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 9:32 PM, Dragoslav Zaric wrote:
>> Dear Peter,
>>
>> I think that this:
>>
>> "Can you program in C and are you familiar with the C/Python
>> API? We will need to look at porting our C code from Python 2
>> to Python 3, and this is quite complicated."
>>
>> is best idea for start. I can code in C, and have experience
>> both with python 2.7 and 3. Will read tomorrow about C/Python
>> API.
>>
>> Kind regards
>
> Hi Dragoslav,
>
> I'm glad you sound enthusiastic, and I hope you can make
> some progress...
>
> Our plan (following what the NumPy project are doing) is
> to have a single code base targeting Python 2.x.
>
> All the Python code is automatically converted using the
> 2to3 script into Python 3. There are a few special cases,
> but that work is mostly done now.
>
> All the C code will need to use #ifdef statements to make
> the same C file work on both Python 2 and Python 3. The
> bad news is that the basic API for writing C extension
> modules for Python has changed.
>
> What I suggest you do first, is make sure you can get
> the latest Biopython source code from git, compile it
> under Python 2, and run the unit tests. Then try 2to3
> and running the tests under Python 3 (see the README
> file).
>
> Next I would trying updating one of the smaller C
> modules in Biopython to work on Python 3. You'll
> need to edit our setup.py to compile what you are
> working on (currently we compile none of the C
> code on Python 3). I don't yet have a feel for how
> much work this will be.
>
> Please sign up to the biopython-dev mailing list where
> we can discuss things in more detail. The main list is
> more for user support and general discussion.
>
> Thanks, and good luck!
>
> Peter
>



-- 
Dragoslav Zaric

Professional Programmer
MSc Astrophysics