Maintenance update

[ClaasRostock]

Changed

• GitHub Workflows:
  • Added 'name: Checkout code' to uses of 'actions/checkout', for better readability and consistency across workflow files.
  • Added 'name: Download build artifacts' to uses of 'actions/download-artifact', for better readability and consistency across workflow files.
  • Added 'name: Publish to PyPI' to uses of 'pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish', for better readability and consistency across workflow files.
  • Added 'name: Upload build artifacts' to uses of 'actions/upload-artifact', for better readability and consistency across workflow files.
  • Changed 'uv sync --upgrade' to 'uv sync -U'
  • Ensured that actions 'upload-artifact' and 'download-artifact' uniformly specify 'dist' as (file)name for the artifact uploaded (or downloaded, respectively), for consistency across workflow files.
  • pull_request_to_main.yml and nightly_build.yml: Added 'workflow_dispatch:' in selected workflows to allow manual trigger of the workflow.
  • Removed redundant 'Set up Python' steps (no longer needed, as 'uv sync' will automatically install Python if not present).
  • Replaced 'Build source distribution and wheel' with 'Build source distribution and wheels' (plural) in workflow step names.
  • Replaced 'Run twine check' with 'Check build artifacts' in workflow step names, to better reflect the purpose of the step.
  • Updated the syntax used for the OS and Python matrix in test workflows.
• pyproject.toml:
  • pyproject.toml: Removed leading carets and trailing slashes from 'exclude' paths
  • pyproject.toml: Removed trailing slashes from 'exclude' paths
  • Removed upper version constraint from required Python version, i.e. changed the "requires-python" field from ">= 3.11, < 3.15" to ">= 3.11".
    Detailed background and reasoning in this good yet long post by Henry Schreiner:
    https://iscinumpy.dev/post/bound-version-constraints/#pinning-the-python-version-is-special
    TLDR: Placing an upper Python version constraint on a Python package causes more harm than it provides benefits.
    The upper version constraint unnecessarily manifests incompatibility with future Python releases.
    Removing the upper version constraint ensures the package remains installable as Python evolves.
    In the majority of cases, the newer Python version will anyhow be backward-compatible. And in the rare case where your package would really not work with a newer Python version,
    users can at least find a solution manually to resolve the conflict, e.g. by pinning your package to the last version compatible with the environment they install it in.
    That way, we ensure it remains possible for users to find a solution, instead of rendering it impossible forever.
  • Added default directories to the 'exclude' list for pyright, in section [tool.pyright]
    (Ref note in pyright docs).
• Sphinx Documentation:
  • Sphinx conf.py: Updated year in copyright statement to 2026
• VS Code Settings:
  • VS Code Settings: (Recommended extensions): Removed 'njqdev.vscode-python-typehint' (Python Type Hint). Not maintained since 1 year, and the functionality is now covered by GitHub Copilot.
    VS Code Settings: (Recommended extensions): Added 'ms-python.debugpy' (Python Debugger).
    VS Code Settings: (Recommended extensions): Added 'ms-python.vscode-python-envs' (Python Environments).
  • VS Code settings: (Recommended extensions): Removed deprecated IntelliCode extension and replaced it by GitHub Copilot Chat as recommended replacement.
  • VS Code settings: Updated 'mypy-type-checker.reportingScope' to 'custom'.
• README.md: Updated year in copyright statement to 2026
• ruff.toml: Updated target Python version to "py311"
• tests/conftest.py:
  • Changed scope of top level fixtures from "package" to "session", because "session" scoped fixtures gets called before "package" scoped fixtures

Dependencies

• .pre-commit-config.yaml: Updated rev of ruff-pre-commit to v0.15.1
• Updated to dictio>=0.4.3
• Updated to furo>=2025.12
• Updated to hilbertcurve>=2.0
• Updated to jupyter-client>=8.8
• Updated to jupyter>=1.1.1
• Updated to mypy>=1.19.1
• Updated to myst-parser>=5.0
• Updated to nbconvert>=7.17
• Updated to ospx>=0.3.3
• Updated to pandas-stubs>=3.0
• Updated to pandas>=3.0
• Updated to pillow>=12.1
• Updated to pre-commit>=4.5
• Updated to psutil>=7.2
• Updated to pydoe3>=1.6.2
• Updated to pyright>=1.1.408
• Updated to pytest>=9.0
• Updated to ruff>=0.15.1
• Updated to scipy>=1.17.0
• Updated to sourcery>=1.43.0
• Updated to sphinx-argparse-cli>=1.20.1
• Updated to sphinx-autodoc-typehints>=3.6
• Updated to sphinx>=9.0
• Updated to sphinxcontrib-mermaid>=2.0
• Updated to types-lxml>=2026.1
• Updated to types-psutil>=7.2