[SciPy-dev] Sparse feature suggestion: zero-sized sparse matrices

[Neilen Marais]

Hi,

This kind of ties in to the sparse block matrix assembly I brought up 
last week. I build up the sparse blocks from different subsystems, but in 
some cases some of the subsystems fall away. It would be very convenient 
if I could represent the "null" systems simply as zero-sized sparse 
matrices that will then make no contribution to the global matrix. 

It seems normal numpy arrays support the idea of zero-dimension 2-D 
arrays. Would anyone object to this feature in sparse matrices? If not, I 
could try to cook up a patch.

Thanks
Neilen