Minutes_2018_05_03

Numba Meeting: 2018-05-03

Attendees: Ehsan, Siu, Stuart, Stan, Todd

1. New issues

• #2941 - Compilation failure hints feature_request
  • GCC 8 now makes suggestions. Looks nice.
  • Add the framework, then put in hint heuristics over time
• #2940 - Constrain num procs used in parallel testing feature_request
  • Shows up on conda-forge and high core count systems
• #2937 - Incorrect dispatch if FARRAY is misaligned bug
  • Found on ARM, but might be global problem?
  • Know the fix, will open PR
• #2936 - guvectorize automatic signatures
  • "Inefficient" of future usability of autojit gufunc
  • Not high priority since gufunc replacement in medium term
• #2935 - Documentation: guvectorize scalar return value
  • "slightly" mentioned in docs, needs to be more clear
  • Turn suggested docs into PR
• #2934 - guvectorize support for uint8, uint16, uint32
  • Non-intuitive NumPy type promotion for unsigned ints
• #2933 - ctypes Structure support
  • Use case is kind of far from Numba short-term goals
  • Requires a lot of ctypes support that isn't in the roadmap
• #2931 - Improve error message for untyped list or yet-to-decide type variables enhancement
  • In response to "recursion" error that was actually list typing error
  • Open PR to fix this
• #2927 - Update FAQ: function can be used as an argument
  • Easy fix
• #2925 - Windows Python 3.6 Test Failures
  • Stuart has been working with conda-forge to resolve
  • Might be related to how NumPy / SciPy were built
  • Maybe caused by #2937?
• #2923 - Fine grained fastmath/NaN+Inf handling.
  • Need some testing to see how fastwithnan would affect SIMD
  • How to handle functions that expect correct NaN handling??
• #2922 - Inaccurate complex tanh implementation bug
  • "Easy" to fix, copy standard algorithm

2. Open PRs

New

• #2939 WIP: comprehensive SVML test

  • In progress, Anton wants quick sanity check

• #2938 Python 3.7 compat: _Py_Finalizing becomes _Py_IsFinalizing()

  • Looks fine
  • Will not fix all Python 3.7 issues

• #2930 [WIP] Add configuration file and color schemes.

  • Colored errors are hard to make universally visible given different terminal color schemes
  • Adds config file that lets you control all Numba config options, including color scheme

• #2929 Add Flag To Prevent Unneccessary D->H Copies

• #2928 [WIP] Making error about untyped list more informative.

  • WIP pending thoughts about how far to take the solution

• #2926 Enable fence for all architecture and add developer notes

  • good to merge

Old

• #2910: [WIP] More CUDA intrinsics
  • Check if it works on GPU
  • Make sure it goes thru the buildfarm before merging
• #2905: Fix for #2862
  • need test
  • Reply to author saying needs test
• #2902: Support for np.unique
  • author made review changes, need final check
• #2897: [WIP] Fix line position of delete statement in numba ir
  • Almost done, Siu will finish
• #2894: [WIP] Implement jitclass default constructor arguments.
• #2869: WIP: use pairwise summation in sum
  • Could this be converted to a loop?
  • Can LLVM do that translation?
• #2860: [WIP] __cuda_array_interface__
  • add supported for ufunc/gufunc
  • need docs
• #2840: Support list of refcounted types
  • Just needs documentation added docs
  • Ready for review
• #2817: [WIP] Emit LLVM optimization remarks
  • Want to refactor to not require temp file on disk
• #2793: Simplify and remove javascript from html_annotate templates.
  • annotate method now on dispatcher objects

===========================

3. Feature Discussion

• Numba in Anaconda defaults channel status
• Preparing for Python 3.7
• XND gufunc taking numba jitted gufunc kernel https://github.com/plures/gumath/pull/12

0.39 Plans

• Automate wheel creation
• Thread pool rewrite and TBB interface improvements
  • or First class Object
• How close are we to ufunc/gufunc rewrite to remove NumPy entanglement?
  • separate decorator for XND gufunc
  • "Just" need to register our kernel to xnd
• Containers of refcounted objects:
  • Time for numba.list? (next release)
  • numba.dict? (next release?)
• ARMv7 fixes
  • Aligned malloc issues
  • Typing problems because of the above
  • OpenBLAS issues
  • NumPy issues derived from alignment
• PPC64LE build of llvmlite (after LLVM 6.0.1 is released?)
• More user focused items, docs/annotate tool
• Buildfarm overhaul ?

4. Next Release: Version 0.39, RC=June 18, 2018, Final=June 25, 2018

• ?