NumPy receives first ever funding, thanks to Moore Foundation
It's great that the Moore Foundation provided funding for open source data science tools in Python. Good for them!That being said, I do wonder if numpy is the most appropriate recipient. In my experience with data science, the tool that would benefit the most is not numpy, but pandas. While data scientists rarely use numpy directly, every data scientist I know who uses pandas says they are constantly having to google how to do things due to a somewhat confusing and inconsistent API. I use pandas at work every day and I'm always looking stuff up, particularly when it comes to confusing multi-indexes. In contrast, I rarely use R's dplyr at work, but the API is so natural that I hardly ever need to look things up. I would love if pandas could make a full-throated commitment to a more dplyr-like API.Nothing against pandas -- I know the devs are selflessly working very hard hard. It's just that it seems there is more bang for the buck there.