On 1/5/07, Stefan van der Walt stefan@sun.ac.za wrote:
On Fri, Jan 05, 2007 at 09:38:49AM -0500, Neal Becker wrote:
Several extensions to Python utilize the buffer protocol to share the location of a data-buffer that is really an N-dimensional array. However, there is no standard way to exchange the additional N-dimensional array information so that the data-buffer is interpreted correctly.I am questioning if this is the best concept. It says that the
data-buffer
will carry the information about it's interpretation as an N-dimensional array.
I'm thinking that a buffer is just an interface to memory, and that the interpretation as an array of n-dimensions, for example, is best left to the application. I might want to at one time view the data as n-dimensional, but at another time as 1-dimensional, for example.
You can always choose to ignore that information if you don't need it. On the other hand, if you *do* need it, how would you otherwise interpret an N-dimensional array, given only a buffer?
I think Neal is suggesting some object that basically does nothing but hold a pointer(s) to memory. This memory can be used in various ways, one of which is to use it construct another type of object that provides a view with indices and such, i.e., an array. That way the memory isn't tied to arrays and could concievable be used in other ways. The idea is analagous to the data/model/view paradigm. It is a bit cleaner than just ignoring the array parts.
Chuck