Version 0.1.0

Version 0.1.0 is the initial development release of PlasmaPy. This version is a prototype and a preview, and is not feature complete. Significant changes to the API are expected to occur between versions 0.1.0 and 0.2.0, including backward incompatible changes.

New Features

  • Composed PlasmaPy’s Vision Statement.
  • Adopted the Community Code of Conduct.
  • Created a guide on How to Contribute.
  • Adopted a permissive BSD 3-clause license with protections against software patents.
  • Set up continuous integration testing with Travis CI, CircleCI, and AppVeyor, along with test coverage checks with Coveralls.
  • Decided upon code and docstring style conventions and set up automated code style checks with pep8speaks.
  • Developed online documentation for PlasmaPy that is hosted by Read the Docs.
    • Automated documentation builds with Sphinx.
    • Wrote narrative documentation for each subpackage.
  • Adopted use of units as a units package.
  • Created the atomic subpackage to provide easy access to commonly used atomic data.
    • Created a functional interface to access particle properties and find the energy released from nuclear reactions.
    • Created the Particle class as an object-oriented interface to the atomic subpackage.
    • Created the particle_input decorator.
  • Created the classes subpackage that includes the prototype Plasma3D, PlasmaBlob, and Species classes.
  • Created the constants subpackage.
  • Created the mathematics subpackage that contains analytical functions commonly used in plasma physics.
  • Created the physics subpackage with its transport module to calculate plasma parameters, transport coefficients, dielectric tensor elements, collision rates, and relativity/quantum physics parameters used in plasma physics.
  • Created the utils subpackage.
    • Created check_quantity and check_relativistic decorators.
    • Created custom exceptions.
    • Added import helper and test helper functionality.
  • Began development of the diagnostics subpackage.
    • Created a module to interpret Langmuir probe data.
  • Created a repository for PlasmaPy Enhancement Proposals.
  • Began using type hint annotations.
  • Set up architecture to incorporate Cython into performance-critical sections of code.
  • Incorporated import and setup tools from the astropy_helpers package.
  • Set up a page describing the Stability of Subpackages.

Changes to API

  • PlasmaPy now has an API.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed bug in universe that cause solar neutrinos to oscillate between different flavors.