Re: [Numpy-discussion] Adding .abs() method to the array object

On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 12:11 AM, Charles R Harris wrote:

On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 1:33 PM, Robert Kern wrote:

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On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 7:25 PM, Nathaniel Smith wrote:

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On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 3:38 PM, Till Stensitzki wrote:

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Hello, i know that the array object is already crowded, but i would like to see the abs method added, especially doing work on the console. Considering that many much less used functions are also implemented as a method, i don't think adding one more would be problematic.

My gut feeling is that we have too many methods on ndarray, not too few, but in any case, can you elaborate? What's the rationale for why np.abs(a) is so much harder than a.abs(), and why this function and not other unary functions?

Or even abs(a).

Well, that just calls a method:

In [1]: ones(3).__abs__() Out[1]: array([ 1., 1., 1.])

Which shows the advantage of methods, they provide universal function hooks.

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. It does not appear to be relevant to adding an ndarray.abs() method. -- Robert Kern