[Numpy-discussion] Possible roadmap addendum: building better text file readers

[Alan G Isaac]

On 2/27/2012 10:10 AM, Paulo Jabardo wrote:
> I have a few features that I believe would make text file easier for many people. In some countries (most?) the decimal separator in real numbers is not a point but a comma.
> I think it would be very useful that the decimal separator be specified with a keyword argument (decimal = '.' for example) on the text reading function.


Down that path lies madness.

For a fast reader, just document input format to use
"international notation" (i.e., the decimal point)
and give the user the responsibility to ensure the
data are in the right format.

The format translation utilities should be separate,
and calling them should be optional.

fwiw,
Alan Isaac