[Numpy-discussion] Generalized ufuncs?

[Robert Kern]

On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 21:55, Anne Archibald <peridot.faceted at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2008/8/17 Robert Kern <robert.kern at gmail.com>:
>>
>> I suggested that we move it to a branch for the time being so we can
>> play with it and come up with examples of its use. If you have
>> examples that you have already written, I would love to see them. I,
>> for one, am amenable to seeing this in 1.2.0, but only if we push back
>> the release by at least a few weeks.
>
> This is not a worked example, but this is exactly what is needed to
> make possible the "arrays of matrices" functions that were discussed
> some time ago. For example, users frequently want to do something like
> multiply an array of matrices by an array of matrices; that is not
> currently feasible without a very large temporary array (or a loop).
>
> But I think you were looking for examples of code using the interface,
> to see whether it worked well.

I'll take what I can get. In order of increasing utility:

  1. Descriptions of use cases (as above).
  2. Mockups of the Python code demonstrating the use case (e.g.
     nonfunctional Python code showing a potential generalized ufunc
     with inputs and outputs).
  3. The C code implementing the actual functionality for the use case.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless
enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as
though it had an underlying truth."
 -- Umberto Eco