astropy:docs

Current status of sub-packagesΒΆ

Astropy has benefited from the addition of widely tested legacy code, as well as new development, resulting in variations in stability across sub-packages. This document summarizes the current status of the Astropy sub-packages, so that users understand where they might expect changes in future, and which sub-packages they can safely use for production code.

The classification is as follows:

Planned
Actively developed, be prepared for possible significant changes.
Reasonably stable, any significant changes/additions will generally include backwards-compatiblity.
Mature. Additions/improvements possible, but no major changes planned.

The current planned and existing sub-packages are:

Sub-Package   Comments
astropy.analytic_functions dev New in v1.0.
astropy.constants stable Constants were changed to Quantity objects in v0.2. Since then on, the package has been stable, with occasional additions of new constants.
astropy.convolution stable New top-level package in v0.3 (was previously part of astropy.nddata). No major changes since, likely will maintain backwards compatibility but possible future additions or improvements.
astropy.coordinates stable New in v0.2, major changes in v0.4. Subsequent versions should maintain a stable/backwards-compatible API, following the plan of APE 5. Further major additions/enhancements likely, but with basic framework unchanged.
astropy.cosmology stable Incremental improvements since v0.1, but mostly stable API. Pure functional interface deprecated in v0.4.
astropy.io.ascii mature Originally developed as asciitable, and has maintained a stable API.
astropy.io.fits mature Originally developed as pyfits, and retains an API consistent with the standalone version.
astropy.io.misc mature The functionality that is currently present is stable, but this sub-package will likely see major additions in future.
astropy.io.votable mature Originally developed as vo.table, and has a stable API.
astropy.modeling dev New in v0.3. Major changes in v1.0, signficant additions planned. Backwards-compatibility likely to be maintained, but not guaranteed.
astropy.nddata dev Significantly revised in v1.0 to implement APE 7. Major changes in the API are not anticipated, broader use may reveal flaws that require API changes.
astropy.photometry planned  
astropy.stats dev Likely to maintain backwards-compatibility, but functionality continually being expanded, so significant additions likely in the future.
astropy.table stable Incremental improvements since v0.1, but mostly stable API.
astropy.time mature Incremental improvements since v0.1, API likely to remain stable for the foreseeable future.
astropy.units stable New in v0.2. Adapted from pnbody and integrated into Astropy. Current functionality stable with intent to maintain backwards compatibility. Significant new functionality is likely to be added in future versions.
astropy.utils dev Contains mostly utilities destined for internal use with other parts of Astropy. Existing functionality generally stable, but reglar additions and occasional changes.
astropy.visualization dev New in v1.0, and in development.
astropy.vo stable Virtual Observatory service access and validation. Currently, only Simple Cone Search and SAMP are supported.
astropy.wcs stable Originally developed as pywcs, and has a stable API for now. However, there are plans to generalize the WCS interface to accommodate non-FITS WCS transformations, and this may lead to small changes in the user interface.