[Python-Dev] RE: [Numpy-discussion] RE: Possible bug (was Re: numpy, overflow, inf, ieee, and rich comparison)

[Steven D. Majewski]

First: I haven't followed this thread from the beginning -- only the
last ten or so posts. 

Second: One reason I didn't follow it from the start is that I'm not
doing any heavy numerical stuff in Python. I've been using Lisp for
that, and use Python more for string/symbolic or GUI hacking. 

But, if I was going to do the sort of numerical stuff I now do in 
Lisp in Python, I would agree with Huaiya Zhu. I do a lot of 
vectorized operations on what are often independent samples. 
If some of the numbers overflow or underflow, that just represents
an outlier or bad sample. I don't want it to blow off the whole
pipeline of operations on the other data points in the vector -- 
they are independent of the bad points. 

 In my case, it's not that these are lengthy calculations. It's
that they are interactive and tied to immediate graphical 
representations. If there are strange zero's or infinities in
the result, there is (or should be) a way to backtrack and 
investigate. ( That's why people want interactive and graphical
regression analysis and modeling tools! ) 

 The idea that your calculation should blow up and you should 
check it and resubmit your job sounds just so ancient-20th-century-
Fortran-JCL-and-punched-cards-technology! 
 

---|  Steven D. Majewski   (804-982-0831)  <sdm7g at Virginia.EDU>  |---
---|  Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics  |---
---|  University of Virginia             Health Sciences Center  |---
---|  P.O. Box 10011            Charlottesville, VA  22906-0011  |---
		"All operating systems want to be unix, 
		 All programming languages want to be lisp."