Numeric Pointer Module

Written by: Rodrigo Caballero Augi (rca@geosci.uchicago.edu),
Updated: Christian Dieterich (cdieterich@geosci.uchicago.edu),
Packaged: Michael Steder (steder@gmail.com)
Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago
(http://geosci.uchicago.edu/csc)
2004

* Introduction *

The Numeric Pointer module (NumPtr) is a SWIGable module that makes it possible to access data stored in Numeric arrays as if they were normal C/C++ arrays( declared type name[][]; ).

NumPtr was developed to make it possible to work with SWIG'ed C or Fortran climate codes from Python.

This package is also a good example of how to write C extensions for Python that manipulate arrays.

* Getting the Module *

You can download the current version of the module here:
(http://geosci.uchicago.edu/csc/numptr/)

    * NumPtr 1.1 (Tarball)
    * NumPtr 1.1 (Zip)
    * NumPtr 1.1 (Windows Installer)

* Requirements *

    * Python 2.2+ (with Distutils!)
    * C Compiler
    * SWIG 1.3+

This package was most recently tested with Python 2.3.3, 
GCC 3.4.1, and SWIG 1.3.21.

* Compiling NumPtr *

To compile NumPtr you simply have to invoke distutils build process: 
( $ represents the command prompt )

      $ python setup.py build 

* Installing NumPtr *

To install NumPtr with administrative privileges you must invoke distutils 
with the "install" option:

      $ python setup.py install 

To install NumPtr into a different directory then the standard or to install 
it into a home directory (for non-administrators), you can set the "--prefix" 
or "--install-base" options when calling setup.py. For instance.

      $ python setup.py install --prefix=/home/user 

Alternatively you can simply copy the files from build/lib.ARCH 
(where ARCH is your machines python version and operating system(kernel) 
version) to your chosen install location.

      $ cp build/lib.linux-i686-2.3/* /home/user/python-libs/ 

* Using the Module *

* Getting Help *

The Climate Systems Group @ U of C maintains a Wiki community site, 
if you have questions or comments about the Numeric Pointer module 
please ask there:

      CSC Wiki (http://geodoc.uchicago.edu/climatewiki)

© Mike Steder: Climate Systems Center, 2004