update python package structure / tooling

[hutch3232]

Looking at the python package structure, I saw a few areas that could be modernized (for lack of a better word). I would be happy to make a PR. Would a contribution towards this be welcome?

Some ideas I had (open to others as well):

• migrate from setup.py to pyproject.toml
• migrate from flake8 to ruff
• implement PEP 735 dependency groups for optional dependencies like polars and python
• publish wheels
• update build steps to avoid deprecated python setup.py approach

[tomasfryda]

I agree h2o-3 packages should be modernized (both Python and R) but it's harder than it might look:

• h2o-3 tries to support older versions (I think we still test/support R 3.5 and python 3.6 (maybe even older))
• the tests have to run on our infrastructure and I don't think our test images are ready for the modernized version of the packages (and this would have to be done by us)

And h2o-3 team has now a lot of work (due to parental leaves and "GenAI" there is less time for people work to on h2o-3) so the team has to prioritize a lot, so I'm afraid your PR would not be merged anytime soon. (So I wouldn't recommend creating a PR towards this).

But I'm grateful that you'd like to contribute.

[hutch3232]

As someone who still uses R 3.5.3 in some environments, the extended support is greatly appreciated 😀. We can come back to this at some point perhaps.