pystats

A Python statistics library developed during the pre-NumPy era, built on the numarray package that preceded the modern scientific Python ecosystem.

Overview

pystats was created to fill the gap in statistical computing capabilities for Python developers before the emergence of NumPy and SciPy. The library provided essential statistical functions and methods built on the numarray foundation, which was one of the early attempts to bring numerical computing to Python.

Historical Context

This project emerged during a critical period in Python’s scientific computing evolution:

• Pre-NumPy Era: Created before NumPy unified the array computing landscape (NumPy 1.0 released in 2006)
• numarray Foundation: Built on numarray, which was developed at the Space Telescope Science Institute as a successor to Numeric
• Statistical Computing Gap: Addressed the lack of comprehensive statistical tools in Python’s early ecosystem

Technical Architecture

The library likely provided:

• Basic and advanced statistical functions
• Probability distributions
• Hypothesis testing tools
• Data analysis utilities
• Integration with numarray’s N-dimensional array capabilities

Legacy

While superseded by SciPy’s comprehensive scipy.stats module, pystats represents an important step in Python’s evolution toward becoming the dominant platform for scientific and statistical computing. It demonstrates the community-driven development that characterized early Python scientific tools.

Availability

The project remains archived on SourceForge, serving as a historical artifact of Python’s scientific computing development.