[Numpy-discussion] numpy.genfromtxt converters issue

[Lluís]

Pierre GM writes:

> In practice, that's exactly what happens below the hood when
> genfromtxt tries to guess the output type of the converter. It tries a
> single value ('1'), fails, and decides that the result must be an
> object... Probably not the best strategy, as it crashes in your
> case. But yours is a buggy case anyway.
[...]
> Now, we can argue over the very last point: if both a converter and a
> dtype are specified, which one should take precedence?
> You have my opinion, let's hear yours.

What about delaying the calculation of converters? Instead of using type
checks with fake data, 'StringConverter.update' could take an optional
argument 'imput_sample' (defaulting to "1") in order to perform its
checks.

Then, use real data from the first (non-comment, non-names) line of the
input file when calling 'StringConverter.update' in 'genfromtxt'.


Lluis

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