call_notes.md

Notes from ljwolf's GSOC call, 5/23

• Blog posts proceeding fine, should be simple to continue making them on schedule, at the pace at which I blog normally.
• Questions about Request for Comment:
  • What should I prioritize? NOGR or Labeled Array Interface?
    • Labeled Array. This is critical to get correct, and will make NOGR need and scope clearer.
  • How deep into PySAL should the Labeled Array interface go?
    • Design it like the library were getting built now.
    • Do not fail on import. Instead, use soft dependencies/optional import patterns
    • if necessary, write Python3-only components safely, so that new features can be leveraged.
  • What should get deprecated?
    • Anything that looks less smooth in the unlabeled array interface should get flagged with a depwarning.
    • If the tabular IO is smooth and works parallel to the older interface, then throw a deprecation warning on the FileIO components.
• Deliverables in the medium term (targeting midterm eval for GSOC):
  • Two Contrib Modules:
    • GeoTable: interfaces between PySAL labeled arrays & Geopandas arrays
    • Pdio: extend and improve tabular interface already in PySAL
  • Some work in core:
    • Polymorphic weights constructors
      • i.e. work on any arbitrary iterable of shapes
      • return correct weights object from the iterable
      • possibly indexed by a second collection of indices
    • Revamp & scaffold new IO system revolving around multiple alternative packages & their drivers:
      • expose all pandas read_ functions
      • ensure pysal objects get serialized correctly into wkb/wkt by to_ on dataframes
      • wrap Fiona & geopandas constructors to provide identical output to pdio.read_files
• Plan to connect with new geopandas contributors at SciPy
• Investigate possibility of serializing with Libfeather (remote, if time remaining)