D for project in computational chemistry

[Gerald Jansen via Digitalmars-d]

On Wednesday, 5 August 2015 at 18:49:21 UTC, bachmeier wrote:

> Yes. The question is whether we can put together a group of 
> developers to build the infrastructure, which is a lot more 
> than just code. That means, in particular, good documentation 
> and using it for our own projects.

Right on! I would be willing to help with documentation if there 
were a concerted effort in this direction. There have been a 
number of failed individual efforts over the years. So how can a 
group effort be promoted?

Is the Dscience github project an adequate platform? How can 
other people get involved? Is a dedicated discussion group 
needed? Can we develop a plan of some sort rather than just a 
scatter of individual efforts?

> Everyone these days talks about how Python is a powerhouse 
> scientific programming language. A decade ago it was crap. I 
> know, because I watched it for years wishing I could use it. 
> There were some poorly documented, domain-specific, 
> hacked-together libraries, but Python was not for the most part 
> a suitable choice.

I started with Python in the years of the Numeric+numarray->NumPy 
transition. It was messy. Personally I think a unified library 
like NumPy, to underpin other more specialized libraries, is of 
paramount importance to any success of D in science.

Ideally there would be a NumPy/ndarray usage-compatible module in 
D. That would make D much more attractive to potential Python 
converts and lower the entry barrier considerably.