[SciPy-user] Masked arrays with dtype=object: elements get wrapped in 0D arrays

[Pierre GM]

> Is this a bug, or am I understanding something wrong?

Not really. Well, I don't know whether it should be a bug or not.
When you set an element `i` of masked array `a` to a value `val`, you actually 
call the function "filled" on the value to set the `_data` part of `a`. This 
function returns a numpy.array no matter what: `numpy.array(val)`. So, when 
you type
a[0]=0
you actually have
a[0] = numpy.array(0)
Which explains what you see.

If `a` has a classic dtype such as int_, float_..., `numpy.array(val)` is 
transformed into a single element (int_, float_...), to fit the memory size 
reserved for an array cell. 
In your case, `a` is a object_ array: there's no transformation, as the memory 
size of an object_ array cell can be modified. 

Now, should 'filled' always return a numpy.array ? That's the case where we 
wouldn't want this conversion, and an extra test could be added in `filled`, 
along the lines of:
...
if isinstance(val,int) or isinstance(val,float) or isisinstance(val,complex) 
or isinstance(val,str):
	return val
else:
	return numpy.array(val)

That extra test will be costly in the long run: 'filled' is called quite often 
w/ maskedarrays.
At the same time, we could just return `val` no matter what (as long it's not 
a masked array). I gonna try to check whether it breaks anything.

In the meanwhile: what are you trying to do ? There should be some kind of 
workaround.