> > There are/were indications that this is an incmoplete project.

Some of the docs do make it look this way, but I think most who have
used it would agree that narray is quite mature.  For what it does, it
seems to be very complete and very robust, and it has been around a
long time and seen much use.

> > Indeed, as a newbie, I attempted to install/expand the tar file and
> > could not get the installation to work.

I have used it as a gem and built it from source on many different
machines with no trouble at all.  It's one of the few gems requiring
compilation I wouldn't hesitate using for any cross-platform project
since it has no dependencies to speak of and seems to compile without
a hitch every time.  I'd be happy to help if you want to email me
personally.