[PYTHON MATRIX-SIG] Mutli-dimensional indexing and other comments

[Hinsen Konrad]

   specification via an index argument.  Could the rank be overriden
   using a keyword argument instead of an index argument,
   e.g. product.over(b,rank=1)?  Since keywords are commonly used to
   override default arguments this would seem a natural possibility.

I have never used keyword arguments, but that's no reason not
to use them ;-) Basically the idea is not bad; however, it lacks
one useful feature of my implementation: it is not possible to
create function objects with modified ranks if the rank is only
supplied in the function call.

Whenever I need a particular function/rank combination often,
I just define a new function, e.g.

  reshape_items = reshape[[-1,1]]
  reshape_items(range(5),[2,2])

gives the result

  0 0 
  0 0 

  1 1 
  1 1 

  2 2 
  2 2 

  3 3 
  3 3 

  4 4 
  4 4 

This is useful not just to save typing, but also to give meaningful
names to nonobvious array functions, which helps to make the code
more readable.

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Konrad Hinsen                     | E-Mail: hinsenk@ere.umontreal.ca
Departement de chimie             | Tel.: +1-514-343-6111 ext. 3953
Universite de Montreal            | Fax:  +1-514-343-7586
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