[Numpy-discussion] bug or feature?

[Perry Greenfield]

On Jul 11, 2005, at 1:38 PM, Curzio Basso wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I noticed the following (unexpected for me) behaviour:
>
>>>> a = NA.arange(12)
>>>> a.shape = (3,4)
>>>> a[[0,2]][:,:2] = a[[0,2]][:,2:]
>>>> print a
> array([[ 0,  1,  2,  3],
>        [ 4,  5,  6,  7],
>        [ 8,  9, 10, 11]])
>
> rather than
>
> array([[ 2,  3,  2,  3],
>        [ 4,  5,  6,  7],
>        [ 10, 11, 10, 11]])
>
> as I was expecting. This happens only if I try to combine indices
> lists with slices.
> Is it by design or I ran into a bug?
>
> curzio
>

An array used as an index produces a new copy (if you think about it, 
given the  possibilities, there isn't much else that can be done). So 
the entity on the left of your expression is modified, but since 
nothing refers to it, it is discarded immediately thereafter. The array 
'a' itself was never changed. I'd say that it isn't either a bug or 
feature.

Perry Greenfield