Add post announcing the v2025 Array API standard release

content/blog/array_api_v2025_release.md

@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
++++
+date = "2025-03-26T08:00:00+00:00"
+author = "Athan Reines"
+title = "2025 release of the Array API Standard"
+tags = ["APIs", "standard", "consortium", "arrays", "community"]
+categories = ["Consortium", "Standardization"]
+description = "The 2025 revision of the array API standard has been finalized and is ready for adoption by conforming array libraries."
+draft = false
+weight = 30
++++
+
+We're pleased to announce the 2025 revision of the array API standard.
+
+Since its initial release in 2021, the array API standard has aimed to reduce
+fragmentation across array libraries by defining a common, minimal interface
+for multidimensional array operations. Over the past several years, the
+standard has matured alongside its ecosystem, with increasing adoption across
+libraries such as NumPy, CuPy, PyTorch, JAX, and others.
+
+The 2025 revision marks another step forward in that evolution. This release
+focuses on improving usability, clarifying semantics, and addressing feedback
+from downstream libraries and users who are building on top of the standard.
+
+## What's new in 2025
+
+This year's revision is less about expanding surface area and more about
+refinement. As adoption has grown, so too has the need to ensure that the
+specification is both practical and predictable in real-world usage.
+
+### Smoother edges for downstream libraries
+
+One of the primary goals of this revision is to make the standard easier to
+implement and depend on.
+
+Over the past year, we've worked closely with maintainers of downstream
+libraries, such as SciPy, scikit-learn, and others, to identify friction points
+when targeting the array API. In response, the 2025 revision includes:
+
+- Clarifications to ambiguous or under-specified behaviors.
+- Improved consistency across related APIs.
+- Better alignment between specification language and existing implementations.
+
+These changes reduce the amount of special-casing required in downstream code
+and make it easier to write libraries that are backend-agnostic.
+
+### Continued investment in consistency
+
+Consistency remains a core design principle of the array API standard. In this
+revision, we've continued to refine naming, argument conventions, and behavior
+to ensure that APIs feel coherent and predictable. Where inconsistencies or
+surprising behaviors were identified in earlier versions, we've taken steps to
+resolve them while carefully balancing backward compatibility concerns.
+
+### Expanded and clarified semantics
+
+As more libraries adopt the standard, subtle semantic mismatches become more
+visible. The 2025 revision addresses these by:
+
+- Tightening definitions for edge cases.
+- Clarifying broadcasting and type promotion behavior.
+- Providing more precise guarantees around function outputs and error
+  conditions.
+
+These improvements are especially important for authors of numerical libraries,
+where small inconsistencies can propagate into larger correctness issues.
+
+### New API Additions
+
+Several new APIs have been introduced in this release to expand functionality
+and improve usability:
+
+- `broadcast_shapes`: broadcasts one or more shapes against one another.
+- `isin`: tests for each element in an array whether the element is in
+    another array.
+- `linalg.eig`: returns the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a real or complex
+    matrix.
+- `linalg.eigvals`: returns the eigenvalues of a real or complex matrix.
+
+These additions further close the gap between the array API standard and
+established numerical computing libraries.
+
+### Breaking Changes
+
+With progress comes necessary refinements. This year's update includes one
+significant breaking change:
+
+- **Consistently return tuples rather than lists**: Previously, for
+  `broadcast_arrays`, `meshgrid`, and `__array_namespace_info__().devices`, the
+  functions returned lists. Guidance has now been updated to require always
+  returning tuples. Prior guidance originated from early specification
+  discussions, and, since that time, array libraries have moved away from
+  returning lists to always returning tuples. This change ensures that the
+  specification matches ecosystem conventions and further ensures consistency
+  throughout the specification.
+
+### Changelog
+
+For a complete list of changes, please see the full changelog:
+
+[https://data-apis.org/array-api/latest/changelog.html](https://data-apis.org/array-api/latest/changelog.html)
+
+## Growing ecosystem adoption
+
+The array API standard continues to see strong adoption across the scientific
+Python ecosystem. Major array libraries have either implemented or are actively
+working toward compliance, and an increasing number of downstream libraries are
+using the standard as a portability layer. This enables users to write code once
+and run it across multiple array backends, including CPU and GPU implementations.
+
+In parallel, the [`array-api-extra`](https://github.com/data-apis/array-api-extra)
+project continues to expand, providing higher-level utilities that build
+on top of the core specification and address common needs in downstream
+libraries and user applications.
+
+## Looking ahead
+
+As the array API standard matures, our focus is shifting from defining the core
+interface to ensuring long-term stability, usability, and ecosystem
+integration. Future work will continue to prioritize:
+
+- Improving the developer experience for downstream libraries.
+- Ensuring consistency across implementations.
+- Expanding supporting tools and libraries around the standard.
+
+We remain committed to working closely with the community to ensure that the
+standard evolves in a way that reflects real-world usage and needs.
+
+## Get involved
+
+The array API standard is developed in the open, and we welcome feedback and
+contributions from the community.
+
+- Specification: [https://data-apis.org/array-api/](https://data-apis.org/array-api/)
+- GitHub: [https://github.com/data-apis/array-api](https://github.com/data-apis/array-api)
+- Public calendar: [https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=8fe9013a2cb5d3409bb236d04eca73fa5227eac01c02ea8f6bc4a6a3cf982fa3%40group.calendar.google.com](https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=8fe9013a2cb5d3409bb236d04eca73fa5227eac01c02ea8f6bc4a6a3cf982fa3%40group.calendar.google.com)
+
+If you're building a library, experimenting with backend-agnostic code, or
+encountering challenges with the standard, we'd love to hear from you.
+
+## Acknowledgments
+
+This release would not have been possible without the continued efforts of
+contributors across the scientific Python ecosystem. We're grateful to everyone
+who has provided feedback, implemented the standard, and helped move the
+project forward.
+
+### Funding Acknowledgment
+
+This project has been made possible in part by grant number EOSS6-0000000621
+from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF, an advised fund of Silicon Valley
+Community Foundation. Athan Reines is the grant's principal investigator and
+Quansight, PBC is the entity receiving and executing on the grant.