[Numpy-discussion] fancy indexing/broadcasting question

[Mark.Miller]

A quick question for the group.  I'm working with some code to generate 
some arrays of random numbers.  The random numbers, however, need to 
meet certain criteria.  So for the moment, I have things that look like 
this (code is just an abstraction):

import numpy
normal=numpy.random.normal

RNDarray = normal(25,15,(50,50))
tmp1 = (RNDarray < 0) | (RNDarray > 25)
while tmp1.any():
     print tmp1.size, tmp1.shape, tmp1[tmp1].size
     RNDarray[tmp1] = normal(5,3, size = RNDarray[tmp1].size)
     tmp1 = (RNDarray < 0) | (RNDarray > 25)

This code works well.  However, it might be considered inefficient 
because, for each iteration of the while loop, all values get 
reevaluated even if they have previously met the criteria encapsulated 
in tmp1.  It would be better if, for each cycle of the while loop, only 
those elements that have previously not met criteria get reevaluated.

I tried a few things that haven't worked.  An example is provided below 
(changed code marked with *):

RNDarray = normal(25,15,(50,50))
tmp1 = (RNDarray < 0) | (RNDarray > 25)
while tmp1.any():
     print tmp1.size, tmp1.shape, tmp1[tmp1].size
     RNDarray[tmp1] = normal(5,3, size = RNDarray[tmp1].size)
*   tmp1 = (RNDarray[tmp1] < 0) | (RNDarray[tmp1] > 25)

I see why this doesn't work properly.  When tmp1 is reevaluated in the 
while loop, it returns an array with a different shape.

Does anyone have any suggestions for improvement here?  Please let me 
know if any of this requires clarification.

Thanks,

-Mark