[Numpy-discussion] Recarray attributes writable

[Erin Sheldon]

Hi everyone -

Recarrays have convenience attributes such that
fields may be accessed through "." in additioin to
the "field()" method.  These attributes are designed for
read only; one cannot alter the data through them.
Yet they are writeable:

>>> tr=numpy.recarray(10, formats='i4,f8,f8', names='id,ra,dec')
>>> tr.field('ra')[:] = 0.0
>>> tr.ra
array([ 0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.])

>>> tr.ra = 3
>>> tr.ra
3
>>> tr.field('ra')
array([ 0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.,  0.])

I feel this should raise an exception, just as with trying to write
to the "size" attribute. Any thoughts?

Erin