[Numpy-discussion] dtype subarray comparison

[Pauli Virtanen]

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:25:24 -0700, Mark Wiebe wrote:
[clip]
> That sounds like it could be tricky to handle correctly, especially
> since it should probably work to compare Fortran-order arrays with
> non-Fortran ones.
>
> Does anything actually depend on this behavior?  Maybe it's something
> that could change?

I believe nothing in Numpy or Scipy depends on that. The main question is 
how much of 3rd party code is likely to use this feature.

I suppose this quirk is not widely relied on, and as far as I know, the 
behavior has not been documented. For instance, Travis's Guide to Numpy 
says (on subdtype): "If a field whose dtype object has this attribute is 
retrieved, then the extra dimensions implied by the shape are tacked on to
the end of the retrieved array."

IMO, it should be possible to change this with little prior notice.

A can of worms :)

-- 
Pauli Virtanen