The Python programming language.
Writing applications in Python on a Linux system is almost too easy. Deploying Python apps on other Linux systems is not hard, because most Linux systems already have Python, with its core libraries and tools, installed. Most Linux systems also have package managers that make it easy to find and install required components. But, what […]
Deploying Python applications on Windows Read More »
I recently found a solution to a problem that had been vexing me for about a year. In order to successfully import anything from scipy.integrate, I had edit the file scipy/integrate/__init__.py and comment out the line from odepack import * If not, I would get various import errors such as Traceback (most recent call last):
Scipy.integrate ODEPACK import error solved! Read More »
I spent some time today profiling a Brownian dynamics simulation written in Python to see how I could make it faster before starting some long runs on a Linux cluster. In the sections below, I have attempted to quantify the speed improvements due to various changes. Keep in mind that the actual speed improvement in
Optimizing Python code for fast math Read More »
I wrote a previous post about how to redirect standard output from a Python script to a GUI window. In this post, I will give an even simpler example of to redirect standard output to a log file. During the early development and debugging of Python programs, I use print statements to keep me informed
Redirecting standard output from Python: another example Read More »
I have found a few tools over the years that I find extremely useful for developing software. Python is my language of choice at the moment, but I’m sure these tools will be handy for any language. Subversion is an open-source version-control system. Version control was designed to allow multiple programmers to work on the
Tools for Python software development Read More »
Numerical programming frequently requires the use of look-up tables. A look-up table is a collection of pre-computed values. When given an “x” value, the table returns a pre-computed “y” value. Look-up tables can be used to speed up numerical codes, when it is faster to look up a value in the table than it is
A lookup table for fast Python math Read More »
NOTE: these instructions are obsolete. Please see Building NumPy on a 64-bit Red Hat Cluster with Intel MKL. In a previous post I described how I built Numpy with Intel compilers and the Math Kernel Library on a 64-bit cluster. Today I upgraded to Numpy-1.2.1 and I made a few improvements to my install process. Please
Update 2: building 64-bit Numpy with Intel compilers and MKL Read More »
VTK is an open-source software system for “3D computer graphics, image processing, and visualization” developed by by Kitware. VTK is the foundation of Paraview, an industrial-strength CFD visualization tool that I have found to be very useful. I generate “second generation” XML-based files from my Python code and import them into Paraview for visualization. I
Using Python to generate XML files for visualization in Paraview Read More »
I wasted some time today tracking down a bug in one of my programs. It turned out to be “unexpected behavior” rather than a bug. I was aware of this aspect of the language, but I made an assumption and got bit. Read on for a valuable lesson. Python handles integer math differently than floating
Unexpected integer/float math behavior in Python Read More »
“Speed” is a complicated term when used in the context of software. Does it mean raw speed of execution, or reducing the amount of time until a correct result is obtained? Python is not the first language that comes to mind when people think of “fast software.” It is true that pure Python will usually
Profiling Python code Read More »