[Numpy-discussion] Recarray attributes writeable (3rd try)

[Erin Sheldon]

Hi everyone -

(this is my third try in the last 24 hours to post this.
For some reason it hasn't been making it through)

Recarrays have convenience attributes such that
fields may be accessed through "." in additioin to
the "field()" method.  These attributes are designed for
read only; one cannot alter the data through them.
Yet they are writeable:

>>> tr=numpy.recarray(10, formats='i4,f8,f8', names='id,ra,dec')
>>> tr.field('ra')[:] = 0.0
>>> tr.ra
array([ 0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.])

>>> tr.ra = 3
>>> tr.ra
3
>>> tr.field('ra')
array([ 0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.])

I feel this should raise an exception, just as with trying to write
to the "size" attribute. Any thoughts?

Erin